


Once Bitten, Twice Shy

by TheDeadMasquerade



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship Development, Sexual Content, Violence, a little canon a little all over the place, a lot of oc bennett characters, bonnie flourishing away from the mfg, family development, kennett, long distance barolena friendship, lots and lots of angst, tags will be updated as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-02-22 00:47:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 53,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2488259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDeadMasquerade/pseuds/TheDeadMasquerade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three months have passed since Kol left Bonnie to return to New Orleans with his family but things haven’t gone according to plan. Determined to stop her brother from spiralling further out of control, Rebekah insists that they need Bonnie’s help.</p><p>Sequel to Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There is a House in New Orleans

When Rebekah pushed open the door to her brother’s bedroom her nose immediately screwed up in disgust at the stench of sex, alcohol and stale blood that lingered in the air. He had the thick drapes pulled across the windows to prevent any source of sunlight getting into the uncomfortably stuffy room.

She sighed with annoyance and frustration when she saw her brother sprawled out on the bed with a body next to him. According to her phone calls to Elijah, this had started to become a bit of a habit for her brother in the last few months. He would drink himself stupid with alcohol and blood and finding company with whichever willing floozy he could find.

None of them managed to survive a night with Kol.

Not wanting to go any further into the room in fear that the smell would only get worse the closer she got, she grabbed the first object she could get her hands on and threw it at her brother. She watched with satisfaction as the empty liquor bottle hit him right in the stomach earning a groan from her brother.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly get any more disgusting,” she stated and placed her hands on her hips, watching pitifully as her brother struggled to pull himself up in a sitting position.

He cast a look to the body lying next to him and casually pushed it off the bed, it hitting the floor with a thump.

“Charming,” she commented flatly. “You are such a gentleman.”

“What do you want, Bekah?” he asked tiredly and ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

“Well, I wouldn’t object to you taking a shower,” she answered as she walked over to the window and threw open the drapes to let in the afternoon rays of sun which caused her brother to wince. “I don’t know which smells worse, you or the decaying body next to you which by the way I will not be cleaning up,” she said and snatched an almost empty bottle of bourbon out of his hand before he could drink the rest of it. “We’re supposed to be looking for our brother,” she said and started to pick up the other two empty bottles from the table next to his bed. “I thought I would be able to count on you, Kol but clearly I can’t.

Sometimes it was hard for her to remember if her brothers had always been such selfish creatures. Rebekah felt like she was the only one that actually wanted Elijah back. Klaus didn’t care, it was him who stuck the dagger in their brother’s chest and gave him to Marcel in the first place. She at least thought Kol would help her find their brother but he clearly didn’t care either.

“Nik’s taking care of it,” he said and ran a hand down his face, willing his sister to disappear from his sight and from his hearing.

Rebekah scoffed and stepped over the body on the ground to pick up the last remaining empty bottle. “All he cares about is reclaiming our home. He’ll leave Elijah in that box for another century if he has to,” she picked up yet another bottle. “How much did you drink last night?”

“Some are from the other night,” he said and slowly got up off the bed and grabbed a pair of jeans that were on the floor and slipped them on. He walked around to the other side and stood over the body of the girl from last night. She was a pretty one, probably early twenties with tanned skin and long, dark hair. “She was actually kind of nice, a good listener,” he commented and knelt down next to her and pushed some hair back from her face.

“Then why’d you kill her?” Rebekah asked and watched her brother stand and grab the girl’s arm to lift her up off the ground.

Kol shrugged and walked passed his sister and out of the room.

“Well, hurry up and get rid of her,” she said and followed him down the stairs. “We need to talk about how we’re going to find Elijah.”

“How are we going to do that exactly?” Kol questioned his sister and walked through the kitchen towards the back door. “Marcel isn’t going to tell us a bloody thing. He hates me more than anyone.”

“With good reason,” Rebekah muttered under her breath and dumped the empty bottles in the trash while Kol went outside to bury the bodies with the rest of the poor, unsuspecting victims Kol had lured to his bed over the past months.

“But I heard Nik mention that he has a thing for the blonde bartender at Rousseau’s,” Kol continued on when he came back inside and opened the fridge to get out a blood bag. “He compelled her to go on a date with Marcel.”

“Why on earth would Niklaus compel Marcel a date?”

“To be his little spy,” he answered. “He’s compelled her to tell him anything about what Marcel does, who he talks to, where he goes.”

Rebekah pursed her lips and thought for a moment, and when she managed to ignore the rising jealousy of hearing Marcel’s interest in another woman, she believed that she may have just found the perfect leverage over Marcel.

“You have your scheming face on,” Kol said and finished off the blood bag.  “Be careful, Bekah, you know what Nik will do to you if you mess his plans up. You’ll find yourself in the box next to Elijah’s wherever that may be.”

“Well, lucky for me I have my favourite big brother looking out for me,” she replied with a candy sweet smile that had Kol arching a brow at her.

Kol gave his sister a blank look. “If I recall correctly, it wasn’t too long ago that you put a dagger in my heart and took my girlfriend to an island where she was nearly killed.” If Kol realised his slip he didn’t show it but Rebekah sure as hell did but before she could even open her mouth to say something, Kol kept talking. “But whatever you have in stall for this bartender, count me out,” he added. “I’m not getting in between you and Marcel.”

“Do you have something more important to do than finding our brother?” Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her brother. “If it was you or I in that coffin and in the hands of the enemy he wouldn’t rest until he found us so why are you so quick to give up on him?”

“I’m not giving up on him,” Kol responded and leant against the cool metal of the fridge. “I want to find him as much as you do but aside from slaughtering every vampire in the French Quarter to do so, I’m out of ideas.”

“I have an idea and if all goes to plan then Marcel will tell me exactly what I want to know.”

“I like my plan better,” Kol stated with an easy shrug. “I’m honestly surprised Nik hasn’t killed his way back to our home.”

“He doesn’t just want our home back, he wants the entire empire that Marcel has built and that includes all the vampires and their loyalty and love. He can’t gain that if he slaughters them all.”

Kol tossed the empty blood bag in the trash. “Our brother’s reach does tend to exceed his grasp. Now, I’m going to go take a shower,” he said and walked out of the kitchen.

Rebekah watched her brother retreat from the kitchen with a frown on her face. The last time she had seen him act like this it earned him a dagger in the heart courtesy of both Elijah and Niklaus and Rebekah didn’t want to see that happen again. He was slowly but surely losing control again. In the two days alone that she’d been here he’s killed two humans and three vampires. She didn’t even want to know the grand total of the months she was absent.

But unlike all the other times Kol goes on his rampages, Rebekah believed that he wasn’t acting out because he wanted to or because he was enjoying it. Simply put, he missed her. It was impossible not to see it even if he tried so hard to hide it. His little slip of the tongue earlier hadn’t been the first since he left Mystic Falls.

Rebekah understood why her brother felt the need to do what he did but at the same time she didn’t. She’d never seen her brother love someone like he loved Bonnie; she’d never seen him happier than when he was with her. He loved her with everything and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. She understood that he wanted to keep Bonnie safe from potential threats New Orleans could have for her, she understood that the events of what happened back in Mystic Falls when Bonnie had died had terrified him more than he would ever care to admit but she couldn’t understand why he walked away, why he wouldn’t at least give it a chance.

She was tired of seeing her brother like this, like a total wreck. Elijah had said that Kol followed him here to help but he’s been nothing short of useless since she arrived and she had never wished for Elijah to be here more than she does now.

XXX

Kol left Rebekah in the kitchen and went back up to his room. He opened up the windows in attempt to get some fresh air throughout the room and maybe air out the stench that his sister was whining about. He ripped off the bloodstained sheets from his bed and tossed them towards the door before ridding his pants and heading to the shower.

He let the hot water wash away the dry blood that stained his skin here and there. His hair matted to his forehead under the spray so he slicked it back.

He had called her his girlfriend this morning and he had seen the flash of pity on his sister’s face that made him act like he never said it in the first place. Rebekah had attempted to ask about her when she arrived a few days ago but Kol didn’t say anything. Even Klaus had but he only asked once and Kol knew deep down that Klaus was only asking because he wanted Bonnie’s power in New Orleans.

Elijah was the only one Kol was truthful with. He was the only one that Kol would let in and show how he really felt and as much as he hated to admit it, Elijah was the only one able to keep him in control right now. Whether he was just an ear for Kol to talk to or there to share a few words with, Elijah had been a comfort. But now he was daggered and stuck in a box somewhere they had no idea where, Rebekah could barely stand to be in the same room as Niklaus who only seems to care about regaining what he once lost while Kol spirals out of control a bit more each day.

These were the moments that he let himself feel and linger in the regret of the decision he made to walk away from her three months ago. These were the days that he allowed himself to wonder what it might have been like if she were here with him but then he thinks of Elijah and what Klaus was doing and he goes back to convincing himself that he made the right decision.

There was no need to get her all twisted up in their demented family drama.  She’d only end up being a pawn in Niklaus’ schemes and that wouldn’t have been fair to her. She deserved a better future than one that would no doubt get her killed. He made a promise to her grandmother that he would keep her safe and if that meant that he had to stay away from her to do it then that’s what he’d do.

He just wished that he could get her out of his head. The only time he isn’t thinking about her is when he’s killing, when he’s feeding. But when the euphoric high from his kills wore off, his mind would always wander back to her. He dealt with it a little better when Elijah was around but without him, he was slowly turning back into the vampire he once was, the one that got him daggered numerous times for. The one that didn’t care, the one that just wanted to kill for the sake of it and see how far he could push his brothers.

Kol turned off the shower and grabbed one of the towels hanging on the racks and wrapped it around his waist, using another to dry his hair before dropping it in the corner of the bathroom. When he walked back into his room he noticed the bloody sheets he threw at the door earlier were gone and a clean one had been fitted on his bed.

“You can talk to me, Kol, you know that,” Rebekah said with a gentle tone from the door way. “I know you’re still hurting.”

“For someone who is always whining about how tired she is of cleaning up after us you certainly clean up after us a lot,” he ignored what she said and went over to his closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and the first shirt he got his hands on.

Rebekah sighed and turned away as he got dressed. “Some habits you just can’t kick, I guess.”

“You don’t need to hover over me, Rebekah,” Kol complained when she followed him out of his room and towards the stairs. “I’m just going for some air.”

“We both know that you aren’t,” she said quietly. “Just make sure this one doesn’t stain the carpet like the last one did. I only just got the bloodstain out of the living room carpet last night.”

Kol lazily waved his hand over his shoulder and made his way down the stairs.

XXX

Kol strolled into a bar that was one of the usual haunts for Marcel’s nightwalkers. He took a seat up at the bar and pretended to ignore all the pairs of eyes that were glued on him. He couldn’t help but smile at the nervousness that seeped into the air around him.

He flagged down the bartender and ordered himself a drink. Looking up, he did a headcount of the vampires in the bar. He frowned when he only counted seven vampires plus the four compelled humans. He had been hoping for more but he could make do with seven. He had also been hoping for vampires with spines but he lucked out there too. Not one of them had spoken let alone approached him since he walked in. The entire bar was covered with a layer of silence that pissed him off.

When the bartender placed his drink in front of him with shaky hands, Kol stared him down and the ridiculously skittish vampire all but ran back to the other side of the bar.

Kol shook his head in disappointment. This bar was clearly filled with the bottom end of Marcel’s hierarchy.

“I’d have a lot more respect for you all if you actually bothered to say what you are so clearly thinking,” he said and picked up his drink.

One near the back of the bar stood up and Kol smirked into his drink. He opened his mouth to say something but Kol didn’t give him a chance to get a single word out before he was in front of him, hand in his chest, gripping his heart tight in his fist before he ripped it from the vampire’s chest.

It sent the rest of the bar into a panic which picked his mood right up.

He grabbed the next closest vampire and threw him to the other side of the bar before grabbing the bartender who had gone straight for the door. His hand grabbed his arm tight and pulled, tearing the limb from his body before going for his heart. He then picked up a chair and broke off a leg and threw it in the direction of the vampire he threw away before, the wooden chair leg piercing his heart.

Another tried to jump him from behind but it was far too easy for Kol to overpower him and throw him to the ground. He grabbed the chair from before and slammed one of the legs into his chest, one of the others impaling his stomach. He picked up one of the sticks off the pool table and snapped it in half in his hands and stuck the ends in the guts of the two others simultaneously, slicing it up their sternums and ripped out their hearts.

He turned around to find the last remaining vampire only to see him being held up by Niklaus.

“Come to join in on the fun, brother?” Kol smirked and pushed back his hair with his bloody hand. “But I must warn you, they aren’t exactly New Orleans’ finest. Bit too easy for my liking.”

Klaus didn’t look amused at all. He swiftly snapped the neck of the vampire he was holding and let him fall to the ground. “What did I tell you, Kol?”

Kol shrugged and wandered towards the bar to grab a bottle of bourbon. “I’ll admit, brother, I tend to zone out when you talk now.”

“Well, let me remind you,” Klaus all but growled as he stalked over to where the compelled humans were huddling behind a table. “I told you that I need to gain Marcel’s trust if I am to reclaim our home,” he reminded Kol and broke the necks of all four of them before turning back to Kol. “And I can’t do that when my siblings are running around slaughtering his vampires like sheep.”

Kol walked over to one of the bodies and nudged it with his boot. “I can’t imagine anyone missing these ones, bottom of the barrel if you ask me.”

“Yes well, Marcel has this inane sense of responsibility for them and gets a tad upset when they die, now please, let’s go,” he said and walked over to the only living vampire in the group and tossed him over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Kol asked and followed his brother out of the bar, taking a long pull of the bourbon. “Just leave him.”

“I have a better idea,” Klaus said, crossing the road to where his car was parked and dumped the vampire in the trunk. “We drain him of vervain and send him back to Marcel, compelled. Now get in the car.”

“How’d you even know I was here?” Kol questioned and opened the car door.

“Believe it or not, Kol but you’re not exactly the hardest vampire to track down,” Klaus answered and started up the car. “And you’ve been quite predictable lately.”

Kol mumbled under his breath and took another drink while silence fell over the two brothers and while Kol was quite content with it, Klaus was not. Kol was certain his hybrid brother just loved the sound of his own voice.

“I know you’re not pleased with what I’ve done to Elijah but -”

Kol cut him off by waving his hand in a dismissive manner. “I really do not care for your reasoning’s, Niklaus. You put a dagger in our brother’s heart and handed him over to Marcel like he meant nothing. There is no reason that you could possibly give me that could make me understand that.”

“Your actions aren’t making the situation any better,” Klaus growled out and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “You have always put Marcel on edge.”

Kol turned to glare at his brother, an icy stare that Klaus refused to meet. “I don’t care if I have to kill every human, vampire and witch in this city to get Elijah back. I don’t care if I have to burn this city to the ground, I’ll do it.”

“If you’re not careful, you might join him,” Klaus responded to his brother’s threats with bite.

Kol gave a low and spiteful laugh. “I invite you to try it. I’ve got nothing to lose and a break from my bastard brother might do me a world of good.”

Klaus sighed and let his head fall back against the headrest. “This is all because of her, isn’t it?” the hybrid questioned.

Kol growled, a low rumbling in his chest that told Klaus to shut the hell up but of course his brother was never one to listen to a warning.

“I know you miss her and I understand that Elijah had been somewhat of a support for you-“

“Don’t,” Kol cut him off with another growl. “Don’t suddenly start acting like you care.”

“I do care, Kol,” Klaus replied, his tone softening just a bit but Kol didn’t allow himself to be fooled by it. “I know I don’t always show it in the best of ways if at all but I do.”

“If you want to show that you care then get Elijah back,” Kol said to him. “For all our sakes because you need him just as much as Rebekah and I do.”

“Then we need to form a plan,” Klaus said, his mind starting to tick over potential ideas. “Marcel won’t just hand him over.”

“My offer to burn this city to the ground is still on the table,” Kol replied and held the bottle out to his brother, his own version of a peace offering. “You might have some sentimental attachment to Marcel but I sure as hell do not. I could torture him into giving our home back if you’d like. It would give me great pleasure.”

“Marcel stole what we built and took it for his own,” Klaus took the bourbon from his brother and took a drink of it before handing it back. “Taking it back will be far sweeter with him alive than dead.”

XXX

As to be expected early the next morning Klaus received a phone call from a very furious Marcel.

“Hello, Marcel,” he answered the phone with a devilish grin.

“Heard your brother went on another rampage last night,” Marcel said. “I’m at a bar owned by one of my nightwalkers and it looks like a slaughterhouse. I got six dead vampires and four dead humans.”

“And you just assume that is was my dear brother’s doing?” Klaus asked, feigning offence while grinned into the phone. “Marcel, I thought we were past this.”

“I got a guy who saw your brother go into the bar and I know it was Kol because I know him and what I see in here has that maniac written all over it,” he told him and Klaus heard bottles smashing in the background. “I thought you said you’d keep your siblings in line.”

“No, I said I’d have a better chance draining the Mississippi with a straw,” he corrected his favourite sire. “Short of sticking them with a dagger, controlling my siblings is next to impossible.”

“Look, Klaus, I’m happy you’re here, really, I am. But your brother has taken out twenty of my guys since he got here and the rest of them are on edge,” he tried to get through to Klaus. “Not to mention all the locals that have mysteriously gone missing since he arrived and the incident at that restaurant not a week after he got here. I don’t care if you have stick a dagger in his heart, do it. You’ve done it before. I’ve seen you do it him twice already.”

“He’ll calm down,” Klaus told his former protégé. “He’s still sore that I stuck him in a box after his directorial debut. I’m sure you still remember that evening.”

“Yeah and that’s why I’m worried about him being here for too long.”

“Nonsense,” Klaus shook off Marcel’s concerns. “He’ll be fine and if it continues his coffin is ready and waiting I assure you.” He caught the pencil Rebekah threw at his head with ease. “I’ll talk you to later, Marcel, Rebekah is demanding my attention and you know how difficult she gets when ignored.”

“Don’t you even think about it, Niklaus,” Rebekah sneered at her brother when Klaus ended the call with Marcel. “Not after I just told you of Marcel’s witch. You can’t hand Kol over to them, too.”

“Calm down, sister it won’t come to that,” Klaus assured her and dropped his phone on his desk. “I made a promise to get Elijah back and I intend to keep that promise.”

Rebekah’s brow furrowed. “You never promised.”

“Not to you, to Kol. Last night,” he said and sat on the office chair and rolled his eyes at his sister’s expression. “Honestly, Rebekah, you don’t need to look so surprised. And to be truthful, it’s less about Elijah and more of not wanting a repeat of the last time Kol was in New Orleans. He racked up quite the body count, even I was impressed.”

“Speaking of our brother, where is he?” Rebekah asked and pushed herself up off the couch. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“He’s teaching young Joshua the art of draining vervain from a vampire, why?”

“Because I may have a solution, to both our problems and he will not like it so it’s best not to discuss it while he is around.”

A smirked formed on Klaus’ face. There was only one topic that Kol had refused to be talked about between them all. “Bonnie Bennett,” Klaus grinned wolfishly. “Now she would be a much needed addition around here.”

“And not just for her magic,” Rebekah added and walked over to where Klaus kept his alcohol. “If she is here then he’ll behave himself and you can stop with the dagger threats. Plus, it would be nice to have someone we can trust in this town.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to pull her away from Mystic Falls?” Klaus asked and leant back in his chair, lacing his fingers together over his chest.

“She no longer resides in Mystic Falls,” Rebekah told him and poured herself and Klaus a drink. “After Kol left, Lucy took her to meet the rest of the Bennett family up near Salem somewhere. She’s been living there ever since. But as for convincing her to come here, well that may be easier said than done. Last I saw of her she was heartbroken.”

“Just tug on those heartstrings of hers, she’ll come eventually,” Klaus said, smirk still in place. “Witches in distress and being terrorised by vampires and Kol’s evil bastard brother who is planning to stick a dagger in his heart, she won’t be able to stay away.”

“Want to bet?” Rebekah argued and leant on the doorframe after handing Klaus his drink. “Kol broke her heart. Having a dagger in his might perk her up a bit.” Rebekah didn’t want to lie to Bonnie and she didn’t want to use guilt or manipulation to force her to help them.

‘“I speak from experience when I say Bonnie has always responded well to threats against her loved ones and lucky for us, it seems she’s found a lot more of them,” Klaus offered her a suggestion and smiled when he was met with Rebekah’s glare.

“Leave her be, Nik. I’m just going to talk to her and if she doesn’t want to come here then fine, we’ll just have to make do with Sophie Deveraux and her coven of incompetence.”

“That would be unfortunate,” Klaus said and rolled his tongue over his teeth. “Try bribery.”

XXX

Bonnie almost let her phone ring out before she mustered up the courage to pick it up and answer it. She had been more than a bit surprised to see Rebekah’s name flash on the screen. The last time she had spoken to Rebekah was when she returned home after spending a few weeks in Europe with her and Matt. It was also supposed to be the last time because according to Rebekah, _he_ wanted her to have an Original free life.

“Hello?” she said and waited for the Original’s reply, almost dreading it.

“Bonnie,” Rebekah said her name like a sigh of relief which confirmed that Bonnie wasn’t going to like what she was calling for. “I wasn’t sure if maybe you had changed your number since we last spoke.”

“For a while I thought about it,” she admitted with a small but forced laugh.

She decided against it because as much as she wanted to be left alone after Kol walked away from her and Lucy took her away from Mystic Falls, she didn’t want to abandon her friends in case they needed her. And maybe deep down she had hoped that she would get a call from an Original vampire one day, just not the one who had ended up contacting her.

“How have you been?” the blonde asked with a sincerity that Bonnie appreciated. Bonnie had been a wreck when Rebekah first approached her after Kol walked away and the time away with Rebekah and Matt had done her the world of good. She hadn’t been so miserable when she returned.

Bonnie took in a breath before she took a seat on the edge of her bed. “Fine, I guess,” she answered. “I’m assuming things aren’t going all that great on your end.”

Rebekah was silent on the other line but Bonnie could still hear all kinds of commotion in the background. “You could say that,” she said. “Niklaus is a traitorous bastard but I’m sure you were already aware of that.”

Bonnie made a sound of agreement. “So you’re in New Orleans? I thought you wanted nothing to do with the place.”

“I didn’t but about two weeks ago I stopped hearing from Elijah and couldn’t get a hold of him and it took Kol a week to call and tell me that Niklaus had once again stuffed our brother in a box,” Bonnie could almost feel Rebekah’s anger and frustration through the phone. “So now here I am and everything is a total mess and is getting worse by the day.”

“Why did it take so long for him to call you?” Bonnie wondered as that didn’t seem like Kol.

“Now that is a different story all together. I honestly don’t even think Kol had even noticed he’s been that out of it lately,” Rebekah answered, the blonde so frustrated that she started rambling. “I’ve got one brother stuck in a coffin somewhere I can’t get to him, another hell bent on taking back what he thinks was stolen from him by any means necessary and the other spiralling out of control a bit more every day.”

Bonnie bit her tongue to stop herself from asking what was wrong with Kol. He wasn’t her concern anymore; she just needed to keep reminding herself that.

“Why don’t you just get out of there and leave them to sort their own crap out?” Bonnie asked her. “Just because they are your brothers doesn’t mean they are your responsibility. You don’t have to put your life on hold for them.”

She heard Rebekah sigh. “Believe me, Bonnie, if Elijah didn’t have a dagger in his heart I’d be nowhere near this hell hole but he does and I can’t leave him. I’m not going to let Nik take any more years from Elijah or any of us if I can help it.”

“I take it you’re ringing me to help you find where Klaus put him.”

“I know where he is, or at least I knew where he was,” she started and Bonnie waited for her to elaborate. “Nik gave Elijah to Marcel who has a witch, a very powerful one, and she wiped my memories of the location after throwing me out of a window. The little bitch.”

“Isn’t New Orleans full of other witches that can help you?”

“All the witches here have been neutered. If they use magic Marcel’s witch will sense it and that witch will be killed so they cower in their little sanctuary and plot but don’t seem to actually do anything,” she explained to her. “And to be honest, I wouldn’t trust any of them even if my life depended on it.”

“So, you want a witch on your side who you know and trust,” Bonnie guessed and Rebekah’s silence gave her answer. “You’ve been around for a thousand years and you don’t have any other witch you can trust?”

“None that have power over Kol like you do,” she said and Bonnie jumped to her feet.

“Forget it, Rebekah,” Bonnie immediately shut her down. “I’ve already gone through this once before, remember? I have no desire to do it all over again,” she said remembering back to when the Salvatore’s thought it would be a fantastic idea to use Kol’s interest in her to their advantage.

“That is not what I am asking; believe me I don’t want to hurt my brother any more than he already is. All I’m saying is that your presence alone will be enough for him to behave himself otherwise he’s going to end up in the coffin next to Elijah.”

Bonnie sighed and ran a hand through her newly short hair before resting it on her hip. She didn’t know what to do. Part of her was jumping to know Kol clearly still missed her but the other part of her wanted to stay far away from him, wanted to move on from him for good.

“Bonnie, I’m not going to force you to come here,” Rebekah said and Bonnie could tell that she was moving to a more quiet location to continue their conversation. “I’m only asking and if you choose to say no, it’s completely okay. It’s up to you.”

“Are force and emotional manipulation not the same thing?”

“I’m not trying to manipulate you, Bonnie. I’m just telling you the truth,” Rebekah assured her. “I remember seeing you after Kol left, you were broken and even after meeting the rest of your family and coming to Europe with Matt and I, you still felt that heartache.”

Bonnie nearly laughed. “It had only been two months, Bekah of course I was still going to be hurting. Having fun in Europe wasn’t going to suddenly fix me and going to New Orleans just to make Kol clean his act up sure as hell isn’t going to work.”

“I don’t want it to work, I want it to snap my brother out of his moronic state and make him admit that he made a mistake when he chose Niklaus over you,” Rebekah said and before Bonnie could object to that she continued. “Like I said, I saw how much you were hurting and Kol is hurting just as much, if not more only now it’s showing because he no longer has Elijah to help him through it.”

“Rebekah…”

“Okay, if you don’t want to come here for Kol, how about for me?” Bonnie felt like she could actually see the smile on the Original’s face. “I need a kickass witch on my side and it’d be even better if that witch was a friend. You and I would make a great team. Maybe we could take over the city for ourselves.”

Bonnie found herself laughing, a real one for once. “That would really piss Klaus off.”

“My new purpose in life, I believe.”

“I’m not saying yes but I guess I’m not saying no either,” Bonnie said, mulling over what Rebekah was saying. “Can I think about it?”

“Of course you can,” Rebekah said, satisfied that she hadn’t said no outright and was at least taking the time to consider it. “I’ll wait for your call.”

Bonnie said a quick goodbye to Rebekah and ended the call. She let out a heavy breath and dropped her phone on the bed before sitting back down with her head in her hands. She didn’t know what to do. It was something that was completely her choice. She had no obligation to go and help them, it was up to her and yet she had no clue what she wanted.

On one hand it sounded like an okay idea. She’d get to see New Orleans, a place she’d always wanted to go to (even if it was in a supernatural state of disarray) and would see Rebekah again. But on the other hand, there was Klaus. There were vampires with a hatred for witches and apparently a powerful witch who shared in that hatred.

Then there was Kol. Bonnie honestly did not know if being in the same city as him would be a good or a bad thing. It was only recently that she had started to finally feel like she was going to be okay, that the pain was starting to pass and she could see the light at the end of the tunnel and could move on. She didn’t want to risk moving backwards. Not when she had her own future to think about now.

She contemplated calling Lucy to ask what she thought of it all but decided not to disturb her while she was away. Her cousin deserved a break after all the crap that had happened back at Mystic Falls. Bonnie then figured that if she couldn’t talk to Lucy, then maybe talking to Joanna would be the next best thing. Joanna always had a way of getting people to open up to her; she was so much like Grams which wasn’t too surprising considering she was Grams’ eldest daughter.

She picked herself up and headed down stairs to the kitchen, just in time to see her aunt pull a tray out of the oven and place it on top of the stove to cool down for a bit. The older woman looked up and smiled when she saw Bonnie take a seat on one of the stools near the kitchen counter.

“What’s with the mountain of cupcakes?” Bonnie asked as she looked around the kitchen to see two large wire racks full of cupcakes plus the two large trays she just pulled out of the oven.

“Kendra and Allison have that fundraiser for their school tomorrow plus showing off that newly renovated stage area,” she said and pulled out another rack from the cabinet near the oven and set it down where she could find some free space. “And while Evelyn has many talents, cooking isn’t one of them,” she added with a laugh. “If it wasn’t for James I swear those girls would be over here every night for dinner.”

Bonnie let out a small laugh and accepted the cupcake her aunt handed her.

“You’re coming to the fundraiser, right?” Joanna asked and placed another tray of cupcake batter into the oven.

Bonnie nodded and picked at the cupcake, not having much of an appetite after her phone call. “Yeah, Kendra wants to show off that guy she’s into.”

Joanna chuckled and went about cleaning up the bowl stained with cake batter. “Of course she does. I wonder if that’s the same boy she was rattling on about last month. She has so many crushes it’s hard to keep track of them.”

“She says he’s the same one but Allison is trying to tell her that he isn’t, apparently he’s the best friend of the old crush.”

“That sounds about right,” Joanna shook her head and placed the bowl in the dishwasher. Turning back around to grab the smaller bowl, she noticed Bonnie staring into the cupcake absentmindedly.  “You okay, honey? You look a little off,” Joanna asked as she closed the dishwasher after putting the other bowl in it. “Is it about that call you just got? I heard you talking upstairs when I went up to grab my phone.”

Bonnie sighed and put the uneaten cupcake on the counter. “You remember that girl I went to meet up with in London?”

Joanna nodded. “The Original vampire, Rebekah, I think you said her name was.”

“Yeah, well that was her on the phone.”

She heard her aunt sigh and leant against the other side of the counter. “Let me guess, vampire drama and they want a witch to get them out of it?”

“More of a just in case but it’s not just magic they want help with,” Bonnie said and looked down at her hands. “Rebekah spoke about Kol. She told me that he’s not doing so well. That Klaus is close to putting a dagger in his chest.”

Joanna remained silent but Bonnie could tell that there was something running through her mind.

“I know he’s not my concern or responsibility,” she continued. “But he doesn’t deserve that.”

“There has got to be more to it than just a case of him needing to be put on a leash,” Joanna said. “I am aware of what is going on in New Orleans. Katrina visited not long ago; she wasn’t there a day before she left. She didn’t like how many vampires were there. I don’t know the full story but I know it’s not great there right now for a witch.”

Bonnie nodded her head. “That’s the other reason Rebekah wants me there. Apparently the witches there can’t do magic and if they do they are caught and killed by the vampires,” Bonnie told Joanna the brief explanation she got from the Original. “Rebekah said something about a witch being on the side of the vampires and could sense whenever the witches do magic. I don’t know what good I would be if they have a witch who senses magic.”

“Like I said, I don’t know much about what is going on but I do know that the witches in New Orleans practice Ancestral magic,” Joanna told her. “So I would assume that this witch can probably only sense Ancestral magic. It’s not like Spirit or Expression. That is why they would want you there.”

“How does Ancestral differ from Spirit magic?” Bonnie asked her aunt curiously. They both sounded very similar.

“Witches who practice Ancestral magic get their power from the ancestors that they have consecrated into the earth. Their magic is fuelled by their ancestors. It’s very powerful but it also has limits. They cannot access their magic outside where the bones have been consecrated, not even Traditional magic,” Joanna explained to her. “So you with your Expression plus your access to Spirit magic, you’d be pretty damn useful to the Originals right about now. What do they want there, anyway?”

“They used to live there or something like that and Klaus is obsessed with getting it back.”

“Are you thinking about going?” There wasn’t any judgment in her aunt’s voice, just curiosity.

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know,” she answered with a sigh. “I told Rebekah that I’d think it over but I really don’t know. I kind of want to know what you think of it, if I should go or not.”

“Are you worried about going because you don’t want to get involved in a war or because you don’t want to risk seeing a certain someone and getting your heart broken again?”

“Are you asking me if Kol wasn’t a factor would I go?” she looked to Joanna who shrugged. “Maybe,” Bonnie said. “I have all this power, I still have Expression. What’s the point of having it all if I don’t use it? At least in New Orleans, I could do something with it. Maybe I could help the witches or something.”

“Okay, so we’ve taken Kol out of the equation and decided that you’d probably go,” Joanna said and went to take the last of the cupcakes out of the oven. “Now let’s throw his ass back in. Would you still go?”

“Rebekah said that me just being there would be enough for him to pull his act together,” Bonnie relayed what her friend had said. “But I don’t know how I feel about that. I don’t want to go if all I’m going to be doing is being Kol’s babysitter, to make sure he doesn’t push Klaus too far.”

“Fair enough,” Joanna agreed. “What’s your relationship like with the Originals, anyway? You don’t speak much of them and they seem rather fond of you so I’m curious. I know that our families go way back to the beginning but none of us have met them except for you and Lucy and well,” she looked down and her voice softened, “…Abby but that didn’t end well for her.”

“Grams, too,” Bonnie added softly. “Klaus mentioned to me a while back that he knew her, back in the seventies. He said he liked her.”

“Huh,” Joanna mused with a hint of a smile. “I didn’t know that about my mother. She never mentioned that she met the Originals but I guess that explains why she had a lot of knowledge on them.”

“So you know that Ayana was our ancestor and Esther’s closest friend and mentor?” Bonnie asked and her aunt nodded.

“That, I did know. I also know that Ayana had no part in making them vampires which I take great comfort in.”

“Then I won’t tell you about Qetsiyah,” Bonnie mumbled. Ayana might not have had a part in making the Originals what they were today but the immortality spell already existed thanks to their other ancestor, Qetsiyah.

“Well, now, you have to, but in a bit. First I want to hear about your ties to the Originals.”

Bonnie chewed at the inside of her cheek, thinking back to the first time she met an Originals vampire. She knew of Elijah but she had yet to meet him when she found herself facing Klaus in Alaric’s body.

“I met Klaus first and ever since then we just seem to go back and forth with trying to kill each other,” she said and found herself smiling for some reason. “There were times that we got along but mostly we didn’t.”

“That seems to be the way with most vampires and witches these days,” Joanna smirked.

“Then there was Elijah who I didn’t particularly like. I thought he was a double crossing bastard but I suppose my time with Kol and the Original family changed my views on all of them because I do like Elijah and it sucks hearing what Klaus has done to him.”

Bonnie didn’t mention anything about Elijah’s relationship with Lucy, not sure if her cousin had shared that bit of information with her mother.

“I didn’t have much to do with Rebekah until I started spending more time with Kol. The thing about Rebekah is that she is incredibly misunderstood. For a thousand years Klaus has lied to her and tried to control her and all she really wants is just to settle down somewhere, have a somewhat normal life.”

During her time away with Rebekah and Matt, Rebekah opened up a lot to Bonnie in hopes that she would do the same. Rebekah told her that she wished she lived and died back when she was human, that she’d do anything for a chance at a normal existence away from Klaus.

“I never had much to do with Finn at all,” Bonnie continued. “He had been kept daggered for nine hundred years and he hated what he was so he kept to himself mostly. He and Esther were the ones that planned to destroy the Originals. The plan was to link them all together and then for Finn to sacrifice himself which would kill the rest of them. In the end he was killed by Elena and Matt.”

“And now we get to the one I really want to hear about,” her aunt grinned. “Lucy told me a bit about you and Kol,” Joanna said and came around the counter to sit on the stool next to her. “She told me you were forced to get close to him in hopes of turning him against the others or something.”

“I wasn’t forced,” she objected to the term used. “And while it wasn’t my idea and I didn’t want to do it, I agreed anyway.”

“And somewhere along the way you developed some pretty strong feelings for him and him for you.”

“I didn’t realise how strongly I felt for him until it was too late,” she said and started to twist her ring around her finger. “I was in love with him before I knew it. I had never felt anything like I did when I was him.”

Looking back, Bonnie can now see that somewhere along the way back in Mystic Falls she stopped seeing her own worth as an actual person and started to only see her worth as a witch. It was Kol that made her see that she was worth more than what she could do for people.

“And you’re still in love with him. And you miss him,” Joanna said quietly. “Which is why you don’t want to go because if you do, one of two things will happen; you’ll get back together or you won’t and you don’t know which one you want yet.” Bonnie remained quiet so Joanna continued. “You want to move on from him as much as you don’t want to so I think seeing him again would be a good thing because it’ll show you which one you want.”

Bonnie sighed then shook her head at her aunt. “It doesn’t matter what I want. He’s the one that left. He’s the one that didn’t want me there.”

“Then don’t go there for him. Rebekah is the one who called you. She’s the one who wants you there. Ignore him if you have to, make him grovel,” her aunt smirked with a playful wickedness that made Bonnie smile.

“So you think I should go?”

“I think you should do what you think is best for you,” Joanna told her and reached to place a hand on her shoulder. “I have faith that you’ll be okay there and if something does happen to you, we’ll be there to raise a little hell on all of them. But if you are still not sure then I say sleep on it and decide tomorrow. No need to decide right now. Hell, take a week to decide if you need.”

Bonnie let out a sigh then nodded.

“Great,” Joanna clapped her hands together and got up off the stool. “Now that is somewhat settled, you want to help me with the icing and maybe tell me about this Qetsiyah who believe it not I did not know was our ancestor?”

XXX

The next day at the fundraiser Bonnie was approached by Katrina while she watched on in pity as Kendra came down with a case of the rambles in front of the guy she liked.

“God, she can be so awkward sometimes,” Katrina laughed as she eyed her younger cousin. “I don’t even want to know what she’s saying to him right now.”

“By the look on his face, nothing good,” Bonnie couldn’t help but laugh as well. She looked over to find Allison shaking her head in shame at her twin.

“Aunt Jo told me you might be heading to the French Quarter,” Katrina said and moved her sun glasses to the top of her head. “I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this but if you do go, you need to be careful. The place is full of vampires.”

“I don’t know if I’m going to go,” Bonnie replied and shoved her hands into her pocket. “I haven’t decided yet but the more I think about it, the more I feel like I want to go.”

“Then go,” Katrina encouraged. “It’s not like once you get there you can never leave. If you don’t like it then there’s nothing stopping you coming back home.”

“I guess you’re right,” she pondered what Katrina had said and decided that she was right. If she went she could always come back if she found that it wasn’t a good idea.

“Of course I am,” Kat said and smirked over at Kendra who was being dragged along by Allison. “I’d go with you if I didn’t have to go back to college in a few days but maybe if you’re still there on break I can come and visit.”

“You’d go back there?” Bonnie asked and Katrina nodded.

“It’s not somewhere I’d want to be on my own.”

“Thanks a lot Alli!” the two of them heard the sixteen year old cry at out her sister. “You embarrassed me!”

“Oh honey, you were doing that all on your own,” Kat piped up when they were close enough. “How is it that you managed to forget every pointer I gave you but remembered the ones I told you not to do?”

“I was nervous!” Kendra huffed. “I swear if he asked my name I wouldn’t have been able to answer. It’s the eyes!”

“He does have nice eyes,” Allison agreed with her twin.

Bonnie excused herself from the three of them and walked towards the large tree in a more secluded part of the area and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She took her time scrolling through her list of contacts until she got to the R’s and her finger hovered over Rebekah’s name and number. She pressed the call button before she could talk herself out of it and held the phone to her ear and waited for the Original to pick up.

“Hey, Bonnie,” Rebekah greeted her, voice hopeful.

“Hey,” she replied and rubbed the back of her neck, hoping she wasn’t about to make a huge mistake. “How soon do you need me there?”


	2. Disrupting the Empire

At his brother’s request Kol was tapping on the front door to Rousseau’s the next morning and we he realised that Sophie wasn’t about to open the door for him, he simply broke the handle and let himself in much to the witch’s dismay.

“I’m getting real sick of you Mikaelson’s forcing your way around here,” she said from the kitchen area and clutched the handle of the knife she was using to chop vegetables tight enough that her knuckles were turning white. Partly out of annoyance of his presence and partly to use it as a weapon if need be, not that it do much good but she imagined a knife to the eye would hurt like a bitch.

“I knocked, you ignored me. What was I supposed to do?” Kol replied and helped himself to a glass of whatever he got his hands on first.

“What do you want anyway?” she questioned and sent the Original vampire a glare as he leant on the pushed back doors to the kitchen area, out of the four of them, Kol was most definitely her least favourite. “If you can’t tell, I’m busy.”

“Not anymore, you’re not,” he said crossed his legs at the ankles. “My brother wants you and I’ve been instructed to use force if necessary.”

Sophie let out a frustrated breath and dropped the knife on the table before she turned to him with her arms folded across her chest. “Tell your brother that he can go to hell,” she growled at him. “He’s been nothing but a pain in my ass since he got here.”

“Well that’s your fault now isn’t it?” he accused and raised the glass to his lips. “You and your sister are the ones who brought him here which in turn brought the rest of us here. You reap what you sow, darling.”

Sophie turned away from the Original, muttering some about if that being true then he and the rest of his kind would have gotten theirs by now causing Kol to roll his eyes at the witch and her moral standing.

“My brother wants information on Marcel, that’s all,” Kol told her and pushed off the door frame and moved over to the table to sit on the edge.

“Do you mind?” Sophie huffed and moved the food away from him. “What can I tell Klaus about Marcel that he wouldn’t already know? He sired him, didn’t he?”

“Not so much on Marcel,” Kol clarified and swung his legs over the edge of the table. “But more on the vampires he surrounds himself with.”

“Tell your brother that I’m not interested,” Sophie replied and put her focus back on preparing the food for the restaurant.

“Well then, can I interest you in an angry little witch Marcel so cruelly keeps hidden away from the world?” Kol asked and watched with a smirk as Sophie’s expression changed from one of annoyance to one of keen interest and shock. “Davina, I believe Rebekah said her name was.”

“Davina? Your sister saw Davina?” Sophie questioned and Kol nodded his head. “Where did she see her?”

“Oh no,” Kol wiggled his finger at her. “If you want information on your fellow witch then you need to come with me to get it.”

Sophie let out a heavy sigh, her frustration making reappearance. “Because of course nothing comes free with you vampires.”

“You want information on this Davina girl and you’ll get it so long as you give us what we want.”

After a long moment of consideration, Sophie caved and nodded her head at the Original vampire. “Fine, but I’ll make my own way there. I’m over being manhandled by vampires.”

“Fair enough,” Kol said and jumped down from the table. “I’ll have my sister text you the address. Be there by noon or I will come and get you myself.”

His tone held no room for negotiation and Sophie was no fool. She knew that she either goes there on her own accord or he drags her there kicking and screaming and will possibly end up losing a good chunk of her neck.

“Looking forward to it,” she grumbled sarcastically and glared daggers at the Original as he walked out of the kitchen and towards the front door, placing the glass on the bar as he walked passed. “Asshole,” she spat when he left Rousseau’s, the door closing behind him.

XXX

Katrina was lounging around on Bonnie’s bed while she filled two bags with what she thought she would need during her stay in New Orleans. Her grimoire was definitely on the top priority list.

“Have you told Lucy that you’re going to New Orleans yet?” Katrina asked her while Bonnie pulled out her grimoire and placed it on top of the suitcase.

Bonnie shook her head and nearly scoffed. She knew Lucy wouldn’t be happy with her going to New Orleans especially at the request of an Original vampire and Bonnie didn’t particularly feel like being chewed out by her cousin. “I think I’m going to hold off on doing that,” she said. “At least until I get there. I don’t want her to worry and she will. I also don’t want her to yell at me.”

“Probably for the best,” she said and leant forward to grab Bonnie’s grimoire from her bag. “You’d hear her scream from here,” she added with an amused smile and started to flip through the tattered pages of the old spell book. “Did this really belong to Emily Bennett? I was told that it was lost after she was killed.”

Bonnie nodded and neatly packed away the few pairs of jeans on the bottom of her suitcase. She thought it best not pack a lot of stuff, just keep it to the essentials mostly. She figured if she decided to stay in New Orleans any longer she could just buy stuff there. “Yeah, Elena and Stefan found it buried with his father.”

“Like with him in his coffin?” The look on Katrina’s face matched how Bonnie felt about it when she found out. Emily was burnt alive at the stake by the founding families along with ninety nine other witches and they had the audacity to steal her grimoire and bury it with one of the founding members. Or maybe the look on her face was the disgust was of holding a book that was buried with a corpse for over a hundred years. “That’s gross,” she stated but continued to flip the through pages.

“Are you sure you don’t mind taking me to the airport?” Bonnie asked, wanting to make sure with her cousin while choosing some tops out of the wardrobe. “I can drive myself.”

“I don’t mind. I wouldn’t have offered if I did,” Katrina answered, her eyebrows raised in interest as she read over a spell that caught her eye. “Have you tried all these spells?”

Bonnie shook her head. “Not all of them,” she said. “Honestly I felt no need to do most of them.” Then when she gained Expression she really had no need for the grimoire anyway but she was still trying to get back into the good graces of the Spirits so she thought she’d start using more Traditional magic and Expression only when necessary.

Katrina replied with a scoff and looked at Bonnie like she was crazy. “You being a witch is reason enough to try them.”

“Is that the reason why Evelyn refuses to let Allison and Kendra near a grimoire unsupervised?” Bonnie laughed.

“That’s different,” Katrina refuted with a smile. “Those two still think being a witch is like some kind of game. They haven’t quite grasped the severity of it like the rest of us have.”

Bonnie believed what Katrina said. When she first discovered she was a witch (and after the initial shock wore off) she thought it was a bit of game but the things happening around her proved her to wrong. It wasn’t until Grams had died that Bonnie started to take being a witch seriously but she never stopped pushing the limits of what she could do. Meeting the other witches of her family had taught her that she still had much to learn about witchcraft.

The door to her bedroom was pushed opened and Allison and Kendra appeared.

“Huh, I thought you had to say the witch twin’s names three times before they appeared,” Katrina joked when the twins walked into the room.

“Mum said we could go to the airport with you and Trina,” Allison said and threw herself down on the end of the bed, just narrowly missing the small pile of folded tops.

“Wish you weren’t going at all, though,” Kendra voiced from her seat on the chair behind Bonnie. “Or preferably that you’d let me come with you.”

Allison let out a scoff and raised her head to look at her sister. “You wouldn’t last an hour around a vampire, Kendra.”

“And there is no way in Hell that I would take you to a place full of them,” Bonnie added and cast a glance over her shoulder to the younger witch. “It would be far too dangerous there for you.”

Joanna had once told Bonnie that Kendra was the type to seek adventure and trouble and more often than not she found it but what concerned Evelyn the most was Kendra’s interest in vampires despite only ever meeting two of them, those two being Elena and Caroline when they had come to visit Bonnie two weeks ago and that had only fuelled the young witch’s interest. She had tried to get both girls to show her their fangs and continuously pestered them both until Caroline finally gave in and showed the young witch what she wanted to see. It both terrified and excited the young witch.

“The vampires in New Orleans and everywhere else aren’t like Bonnie’s friends, K,” Katrina said and tore her eyes away from the grimoire to look at her cousin. “Most are soulless monsters that you should hope to never encounter.”

Katrina admitted to Bonnie that Caroline and Elena had been the first friendly vampires she’d ever encountered and that she was beginning to doubt that vampires with humanity even existed. When she first arrived, Katrina couldn’t for the life of her understand why Bonnie had been with an Original vampire.

“Fine,” Kendra drew out the word with a sigh and placed her chin on her arms she folded on the back of the chair. “But you’re coming back right?”

“Of course,” Bonnie said and packed away her tops. “I doubt I’ll be there long anyway.”

“Good, cause you still owe Allie and I those lessons you promised,” she replied, reminding Bonnie of her promise to teach them a few things from Emily’s grimoire.

The twins were still relatively new to magic, Evelyn having made the decision to bind their active magic until they turned sixteen which was only months ago. She and her husband wanted the twins to have a somewhat normal childhood without the burden of magic and the issues on control but they always knew what they would eventually become.

“And I still have every intention of doing so,” Bonnie assured both the twins.

“Just make sure none of those spells have to do with fire,” Katrina warned with a light laugh, remembering back to when she had once tried to teach the twins a spell. “That will not end well. My eyebrows have only just grown back.”

“Or maybe you were just a bad teacher,” Allison grinned at Katrina who in turn threw a pillow at her head. Allison also snatched up the grimoire when Katrina placed it on Bonnie’s bag.

Kendra followed Bonnie when she wandered across the hall to the bathroom to get her already packed bag of toiletries and make up.

“So you are coming back?” Kendra said, standing in the doorway of the bathroom while Bonnie collected her things.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Kendra gave a small shrug of her shoulders and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “You have a history with the Originals. I just don’t want you to forget about us when you get there.”

“Impossible,” Bonnie assured her with a smile. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

When Bonnie first arrived in Fairhaven she was miserable, heartbroken and no matter how hard she tried to conceal it with the happiness of meeting her family (and she was happy to meet them) it just didn’t fill the emptiness she felt inside of her after he walked away from her and it was Kendra who got under her skin in a charmingly obnoxious way and refused to leave her alone until she told the younger Bennett everything she wanted to know.

She reminded Bonnie a bit of Caroline in that sense.

“Good,” Kendra returned the smile. “I’ll just miss you is all,” she admitted sheepishly and pushed her hair back behind her ear.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she said and touched her cousin’s shoulder as she walked out of the bathroom.

Kendra followed Bonnie back to her room where Katrina and Allison were still bickering about the eyebrow incident.

For a moment, it all made Bonnie wonder if she wanted to get back involved with vampire business. She loved it here and she loved her family, she hated to think about going nearly eighteen years barely knowing them. She had met some of them briefly at Grams’ funeral but her dad wasted no time in shipping her off to his sister’s for a while afterwards. He wanted her to have nothing to do with that side of the family after the death of her mother. He hadn’t even given Joanna a proper chance to introduce herself before he practically dragged her away from her aunt.

But she felt like New Orleans was where she meant to be right now.

XXX

True to her word, Sophie Deveraux was knocking on the Originals’ front door a bit before noon. As much as she didn’t want to show up and make the Originals deal with their own problems for once, Davina was too big of an issue for her not to show up. The fate of the French Quarter witches depended on Davina coming back and Sophie had made a promise she had no intentions of breaking.

“Shame,” Kol pouted when he opened the door for her. “I was hoping to go on a little witch hunt.”

Sophie glared at the Original and pushed passed him. “Where is your brother?” she questioned impatiently. “I want to get this over with.”

Kol pointed towards the opened double doors on his left where Klaus and Rebekah were waiting. Sophie walked through and took a seat in one of the chairs across from the two other Originals while Kol stood by the door.

“You neglected to tell me a few things when I arrived here, Sophie,” Klaus started and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. “Marcel’s secret weapon being one of them, how he manages to have complete and total control over all the witches in the Quarter.”

“Yeah, your brother told me that you saw Davina,” Sophie said and looked to Rebekah.

“Is she a tiny little thing, very cute and very angry with an immense amount of power?” Rebekah listed off things she remembered about the little witch in the untraceable attic.

Sophie slowly nodded her head. “That would be her,” she confirmed. “Where did you see her?”

“You see, I can’t seem to remember,” Rebekah said with raising frustration. “The little brat wiped my memory after she threw me out of a bloody window.” Sophie didn’t look at all shocked with hearing what Davina did. “Now, our brother is in Davina’s possession,” Rebekah continued. “And we need to get him back before the little witch does something to him so what we need from you is teeny tiny locator spell.”

“I thought you just wanted information on Marcel’s inner circle,” Sophie said looking between the three Originals, mostly at Kol since he was the one who came to her with the request in the first place and told her nothing of magic.

“We still want that, along with the locator spell to find our brother” Klaus said.

“You know that we can’t use magic. Davina will sense it, she’ll tell Marcel and I’ll end up like my sister and all the others before her that have attempted to use magic,” she expressed with frustration. She was tired of explaining this to the three vampires surrounding her.

“How about this,” Kol spoke up and drew the witch’s attention to him. “You perform the spell or I rip out your throat?”

Sophie stiffened in her seat but still glared defiantly at the vampire. “You rip my throat out if I don’t and Marcel rips it out if I do so it seems I lose either way.”

Klaus waved off Kol’s threat and Sophie’s concerns. “You will not get caught,” he said to Sophie who arched a doubtful brow at the hybrid.

“It doesn’t matter how small the spell is, Davina will sense it and she always knows who is performing it,” she argued. “There is no way to not get caught.”

“What if another witch was doing a much bigger spell at the same time, hiding your very small locator spell,” Rebekah said. “Say, a traitorous witch, one that is in love with a vampire, perhaps?”

The witch stilled and Kol and Rebekah shared a smirk between them. “What are you talking about?”

“Marcel revealed a bit of information to me this morning that I found quite interesting,” Klaus took over from Rebekah and leant forward with his elbows on his knees. “It seems that Marcel’s most trusted vampire is fraternizing with the enemy. So Sophie, what I would like to know is who is the witch that Thierry is involved with?” Klaus questioned Sophie.

Sophie immediately shook her head. “No,” she flat out refused to tell them who the witch was. “No way.”

“So you do know who it is?” Rebekah looked at the witch with question.

“Yeah I do and she doesn’t deserve to get caught up in whatever it is that you’re planning. She’s a good person.”

“Whether she deserves it or not is beside the point,” Kol said. “You want your little witch friend back and safe from Marcel’s clutches, don’t you?”

“Our intentions do not lie with the witch,” Rebekah spoke up. “But rather with Thierry. She will just be unfortunate collateral.”

“And it is to my understanding that your sister was caught hiding in a freighter by Thierry which led to her death,” Klaus added and Sophie cast her eyes downwards. “Thierry all but handed poor Jane-Anne to Marcel to be publicly executed.”

Sophie closed her eyes and took in a breath. She knew what the hybrid was trying to do but she still couldn’t help but consider what he was saying. While the last thing Sophie wanted was for harm to come to one of her own, it was Thierry that found her sister and led her to her death and it was Davina who could end all of this once and for all.

“You want your witch back and we want our brother back. You do this one tiny spell for us and we all get what we want.”

“But an innocent person dies,” Sophie said quietly, regretfully. “And she doesn’t deserve that.”

“Every war has its casualties, regrettably or not,” Klaus replied with apathetic eyes. “You’ll do best to learn that now.”

The witch remained quiet, ignoring the waiting stares of the vampires in the room. “Her name is Katie,” she told them, feeling sick to her stomach. “She owns the _Jardin Gris,_ the voodoo shop.”

“There,” Klaus sent her a grin that did nothing to quell the sickness she was feeling in her stomach. It didn’t make it any easier for her to accept her own decision to sacrifice a friend. “Was that so hard?”

Sophie didn’t answer him and instead tried to push down the mountain of guilt she felt growing inside of her. She had to do this, she tried to convince herself. Not just for the witch community but for her sister, for her niece.

“So now we are all on the same page?” the hybrid asked and Sophie slowly nodded her head at him. “Excellent,” he clapped his hands together once and stood to his feet. “Now, I’m off to see Marcel and voice my concerns of a traitor amongst his ranks,” he announced and left the room without another word.

“I will meet you in the cemetery this evening,” Rebekah said to Sophie who nodded and got up from the chair.

The brunette said nothing else as she walked out of the room and headed for the front door, desperate for escape.

When Rebekah heard the front door close after Sophie she got to her feet and look at her lingering brother. “For this to all work we will need a distraction for Marcel,” she said.

“I snack on the party goers?” he suggested with a mischievous sparkle in his eye.

“I was thinking something a little more subtle,” she said to him and her lips turned upwards when a wonderful thought of Marcel’s pretty blonde friend popped into her mind.

XXX

Early in the evening, Rebekah’s phone started to buzz while she was adding the finishing touches to her outfit for tonight’s party. She looked at the name on the screen and smiled. Rebekah walked into her bathroom, closed the door behind her and turned on the tap.

“Hey you,” she greeted happily and gave her make up a once over in the mirror. “How far away are you?”

“I should be there soon,” Bonnie said. “About ten minutes or so.”

“Perfect, Kol and I will be leaving for Marcel’s masquerade ball soon,” Rebekah said with a smile on her face. “Nik will be waiting for you when you get here and I got you a dress to wear tonight along with a few other things that need to go with it. They’re in your room.”

Bonnie let out a groan on the other end of the phone. “I have to go to a party with Klaus? You never told me that part.”

“You won’t have to deal with him for very long, trust me,” Rebekah assured her. “Kol and I are about to leave so I will see you later.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Bonnie said before they ended the call.

Rebekah turned off the taps and walked out of the bathroom, leaving her phone on the dresser when she passed it. While Kol was waiting downstairs, Rebekah quickly made her way to the room she had set Bonnie up in and pulled the dress she arranged out of the wardrobe and hung it on the door so she’d see it as soon as she walked it. She retrieved that matching shoes and placed them on the chest that lay at the end of the bed and took out the bracelet and rings from the top draw of the dresser and placed them on top.

On her way downstairs, Rebekah stopped by Niklaus’ office and poked her head in. “I’ve made arrangements for Marcel to be thoroughly distracted tonight,” she said and watched as he folded in half what looked to be some type of spell and slid it into an envelope. “What are you doing with that?”

“This is a spell that Marcel keeps locked away and it is what Joshua is going to discover hidden amongst Katie’s possessions at the _Jardin Gris_ , given to her by Thierry,” he told her with a scheming grin and licked the envelope seal. “It’ll make Marcel think that perhaps his most trusted friend is thinking of starting a little empire of his own.”

“Well, Kol and I are about to leave,” she said and lowered her voice. “She will be here soon and please don’t aggravate her too much.”

“Nonsense, Bonnie and I get along swimmingly,” he replied calmly and placed the envelope in his inside jacket pocket.

Rebekah scoffed but smiled when remembered something Bonnie told her on their trip. “Please, she’d rather take a dip in a tank of piranhas. Her words, not mine.”

Rebekah left Klaus’ office and met Kol at the bottom of the stairs. “Are we waiting for Nik?” He asked, leaned against the bannister with a bored expression.

“No, he will meet us there,” she told him and took in his outfit with approval, whilst Nik was dressed in all black; Kol paired his black suit and a deep red dress shirt. “He has a last minute plan to make Marcel start to doubt Thierry’s loyalty.”

“He’s already compelled the nightwalker to attack the witch and provoke Thierry into a confrontation,” Kol said and held his arm out for his sister to take. “That will no doubt end with Thierry putting a stake through his heart, breaking one of Marcel’s ridiculous rules.”

“Never hurts to have a little extra insurance,” Rebekah replied and accepted her brother’s arm.

XXX

The car stopped outside a large white mansion with five strong columns spanning the length of the porch. It was surrounded by trees and land, very private and peaceful it seemed. The mansion looked like it dated back at least a couple hundred years but it had been well kept.

“This is it,” the vampire who Klaus and Rebekah had sent to pick her up announced – Josh she thinks his name was. He seemed like a nice guy but Bonnie could tell from his non-stop nervous chatter the entire drive from the airport that he was a new vampire and had probably been compelled by the hybrid. “Casa de Klaus.”

“Thanks,” Bonnie gave the vampire a friendly smile and opened the car door. The front door of the mansion opened and he sauntered out in classic Klaus fashion. Their eyes locked and he sent her a devilish smirk.

“How wonderful to see you again, Bonnie,” he greeted her, sounding every bit the devil he was. “Thank you, Joshua,” he addressed the vampire who was retrieving her two bags from the trunk of the car. “You can go now but remember what I told you.”

The new vampire gave Klaus a nervous and quick nod of the head and placed Bonnie’s bags by the front door before jumping back into his car.

“One of your compelled lackeys, I gather,” Bonnie said to Klaus as she watched Josh drive away. “How many do you have running around town?”

“Two,” Klaus answered and led her inside the mansion, stopping to pick up her bags on the way. “But I’m sure the other has become another unfortunate casualty of war by now.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes behind the hybrid’s back, knowing that he found nothing unfortunate about it.

“There will be time for the tour later but right now we need to get a move on,” Klaus said as Bonnie followed him up the stairs and down towards the end of the hall. “I thought you might enjoy a view of the pool,” he said when stood aside to let her enter the room first.

“Staying with you Mikaelson’s is like staying at a six star hotel,” she laughed as she looked around the impressive room.

The room was spacious with a light cappuccino coloured walls with luxurious cream carpet. There were two large windows facing the outside and in-between there was a glass door leading out to a small balcony. A large bed was placed in the middle of the far wall with small bed side tables on either side along with a matching dresser. Across from the balcony there were two doors to which Bonnie assumed would be the walk in wardrobe and the bathroom.

“Rebekah made sure to get you a dress for this evening,” Klaus told her and pointed behind her. “Along with whatever you may want to wear with it,” he added and motioned towards the dresser, the top of it lined with jewellery.

Bonnie turned around and saw a beautiful electric yellow gown with silver embellished patterns over the bodice hanging on the door of the wardrobe.  

“Wow,” she looked at the dress in awe and reached up to take a hold of the hanger and brought it down from the door. “It’s gorgeous,” she said and ran her hand across the fabric of the dress. “Bekah really goes all out, doesn’t she?” She looked back to the hybrid. “I’ll get dressed and you can tell me what exactly it is that you’re planning for this evening,” Bonnie said as she headed into the ensuite bathroom Klaus pointed out to her and closed the door behind her

“We have a witch that will be performing a locator spell this evening,” he told her as she hung the dress up on the hooks behind the door before she started to shed her clothes. “They want their witch friend back as much as we want Elijah.”

“Rebekah told me this witch can sense when they do magic,” Bonnie replied and took care removing the dress from the hanger. “Won’t she know they are looking for her?”

“We have arranged for another witch to perform some stronger magic at the same time which will conceal Sophie’s locator spell,” he answered her and she felt a twinge of uneasiness go through her. “She’ll never know that we are looking her or our brother.”

“Sounds simple enough,” she said, trying to ignore the wariness she felt building up inside of her. She wanted to ask what the other witch was doing but she didn’t and slipped on the dress.

The dress was gorgeous hanging up but looked even better when she put it on. The dress had a small plunging neckline, stopping half way to her belly button but the cleavage with covered with a skin-toned mesh. The yellow fabric of the dress ceased at the top of her breasts but the silver embellished detail on the light mesh continued over the shoulders of the dress and covered her chest. Looking down, she saw the dress had a train but only a small one.

Above all, the dress fit her perfectly. Bonnie couldn’t believe that Rebekah had remembered her size. After giving her hair and make up a quick fix and touch up, she headed out of the bathroom to see Klaus standing by the widow that looked out over the pool, staring out into the night.

“So who is Marcel?” Bonnie asked curiously and walked over to the dresser where Rebekah had placed all the accessories that she stressed needed to go with the dress.

“A vampire I turned many years ago,” Klaus said and turned back from the window. “Someone I considered to be family.”

Bonnie slipped the bracelet Rebekah left over her hand and looked at Klaus and she certainly did not miss the appreciative glance he cast over her. “I take it that it didn’t end well.”

“When we fled the city in 1919 I believed him to be dead,” he told her and straightened out his suit jacket. “But he wasn’t and he stole what we built and claimed it for his own.”

“Why’d you guys leave?” she asked and turned back to the mirror to put in the earrings. “Or flee?” she corrected and carefully knelt down in her dress to grab the pair of heels the blonde Original picked out to go with the dress. They were a sparkly grey peep toe pumps with a heel at least six inches tall along with a buckle strap around the ankle.

“Damn,” Bonnie expressed as she eyed the heels that hung from her fingers. “Hope I don’t break my neck in these.”

Klaus chuckled from the other side of the room and watched as Bonnie sat down on the edge of the bed, facing him. “So, you were saying about you all fleeing in 1919?” she reminded him and started with the left shoe first, slipping it on her foot and leaning over to do up the buckle.

“A story for another time, love,” he told her and watched with amusement as she struggled to get the right one on.

She cursed with annoyance until she finally managed to get the right shoe on and buckled the strap around the ankle and stood to her feet, a little wobbly at first on the heels but gained her balance. She really was going to break her neck in those things.

“I have to say, this is the quickest I’ve ever gotten ready for a party,” Bonnie commented and gave her ensemble a once over in the full length mirror to make sure everything was in place. “I remember me and Rebekah spending the entire afternoon getting ready for your mother’s ball.”

“Well,” Klaus started to move from the window and towards her. “You look even more beautiful than you did that evening,” he complimented and stood a few paces behind her so she could see him in the mirror.

Bonnie gave him a small but appreciative smile through her reflection. The nervousness she had been feeling in the pit of her stomach since the flight had only increased with every passing minute and she knew it was only going to get worse.

“So I guess we should get going then?” she wondered and Klaus nodded with agreement.

“That would be a good idea,” he agreed and led her from the room. “Leaving Kol and Marcel in the same place never ends well.”

Bonnie’s nerves spiked even more at the mention of Kol and she was ready to turn around and head back to the room and Klaus picked up on it.

“No need to be nervous,” he told her with a surprisingly comforting voice while he assisted her down the stairs so she didn’t fall with the heels on.

“Hard not to be,” she admitted to him with uncertainty. “Rebekah’s told me a bit of what’s been happening and I have no idea how he is going to react to this. I have no idea how _I’m_ going to react to it.”

“Kol has started to revert back to his old ways, it’s true,” he said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “And that doesn’t bode well for those around him; he can be careless and reckless. His ways once led our father right to our doorstep,” he told her and they walked out the front door to where a sleek black car was waiting to take them to the party.

Bonnie started to chew on her bottom lip when Klaus got into the drivers side. She thought over what the hybrid told her. She always knew that Kol was far from a saint but she never really knew how bad he was or could be and it was something that she really didn’t want to know. It was a side of him that he kept away from her as much as he could.

“How many people has he killed since he got here?” she found herself asking before she could stop herself. She realised as soon as the question left her lips that she did not want to know the answer to it.

“Enough,” was all he answered with.

“How do you know me being here will help and not just push him over the edge?” Bonnie asked and looked out the window, watching the scenery pass by. “He was very adamant about not wanting me anywhere near here.”

“Because he cares what you think about him,” Klaus answered her. “What you think of him matters. He won’t want you to see him for what he is.”

“And then he goes back to his old ways when I leave,” she added quietly and without looking at Klaus.

“Hopefully you don’t,” he said, causing Bonnie to turn her head around to face him. He looked like he wanted to say more but didn’t know quite how to word what he wanted to say but Bonnie had a feeling she knew.

“If you are trying to thank me for coming here even after you’ve been a right royal pain in my ass for the last two years,” she said lightly and paired with a smile. “Then you’re welcome.”

XXX

The party was in full swing by the time Kol and Rebekah had arrived. The compound had been completely remade for the event. The room was illuminated with a soft blue glow, sheer white curtains hung from the arches and red confetti drifted down from the ceiling above. The whole set up left Rebekah impressed.

“I’m bored already,” Kol whined and started looking for the bar. “Why did I have to come to this?

“When will you stop being such a misery?” Rebekah questioned her brother and pointed out the bar to him. “And need I remind you that we are not here to enjoy ourselves,” she said in a hushed tone when they reached the bar and ordered themselves two scotches.

“I’m not a misery,” Kol objected and leant against the bar. “I just fail to see the point of a party where I can’t eat the guests.”

Rebekah wanted to mention he seemed perfectly fine during the ball their mother held back in Mystic Falls but she didn’t because the reason he enjoyed that party would be arriving soon.

“If you behave yourself you might get a taste of Marcel’s distraction,” Rebekah smirked at him and looked over his shoulder to see the pretty little blonde bartender appear in the crowd, looking every bit the innocent little lamb she was.

Kol looked over to where she was staring and turned back with a laugh. “You certainly are devious, little sister, I’ll give you that.”

“You have no idea,” she smiled at him before wandering over to where Cami was standing, looking very lost. “Cami,” Rebekah called her name when she was close enough for the other girl to hear. “I’m glad you decided to come tonight,” she said. “You look wonderful.”

Kol eyed Marcel up on the balcony, looking down on the bartender and Rebekah. The vampire’s gaze moved and he met Kol’s who raised his eye brows at Marcel and made it seem like he was moving over to Rebekah and Cami. Kol actually laughed at how quickly Marcel bolted from the balcony and descended down the steps. He approached the two girls, paying Cami more attention than Rebekah who excused herself and made her way back to Kol.

“There,” she said quietly when she stopped in front of her brother. “I’d say he’s thoroughly distracted.” She might have hid her jealously well with the wicked glint in her eyes but Kol could see past it and it made him want to tear Marcel in two.

“Now, now, Bekah, don’t be jealous,” he teased his sister light heartedly. “We’re not here to enjoy ourselves remember.”

“Here comes Marcel,” Rebekah said and nodded over Kol’s shoulder to the approaching vampire.

“Marcellus,” Kol turned and greeted the younger vampire with a mocking smirk. “Wonderful party, but I see none of your vampires are in attendance. What a shame.”

Marcel disregarded Kol and his comments and addressed Rebekah. “Where is Klaus?” he asked her. “I made it quite clear that I didn’t want this one anywhere near here,” he said pointing to Kol.

“Rude,” Kol uttered and picked up his drink from the bar.

“When we left he was waiting for his date to arrive,” Rebekah answered with a twinkle in her eye that wasn’t necessarily directed at Marcel. “But he should be here any moment now.”

“Good,” he said and gave Kol a seething look. “The two of you unsupervised makes me nervous. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Still a little whelp,” Kol sighed with mock disappointment before he raised the glass to his lips and watched Marcel return to his human obsession before realising what his sister said. “Does our brother truly have a date?”

Rebekah nodded at her brother, a smile gracing her lips. “He does and I think you’ll really like her. Such a sweetheart,” she said and reached around her brother to grab her scotch. When she looked back up at her brother, she just knew by the look on his face that they had arrived. He had frozen in his place, eyes fixated firmly behind her with a look of bewilderment and awe that she’d never seen on her brother’s face before and one she’d never forget.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Niklaus walking into the party with Bonnie on his arm. “Oh look, here they come now,” she said and turned back to Kol who looked down to glare at her. “What?” she asked innocently and turned back around to smile at her friend and brother. She sent a small wave to the witch who in return gave her a nervous smile. “Doesn’t she look -,” she started to say and turned to Kol only to find that he was no longer there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KENNETT!!! OH SO MUCH KENNETT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! SO MUCH ANGST AND TENSION! OH I LOVE IT!  
> Okay, so the dress Bonnie is wearing can be seen on Kat Graham if you google Kat Graham Prepares for Oscar Weekend. It’s the yellow one only with a smaller train. It looks so stunning on her. Hairstyle and accessories are the same as in the pictures, sorry if my description of the dress is off. Also, Fairhaven is a completely made up town near Salem…  
> If you are interested in who I picture the Bennett’s to look like, so far I’ve pictured Jessica Parker Kennedy (Melissa from The Secret Circle) as Katrina and Zendaya Coleman as Allison and Kendra. When I have the rest of them decided, I’ll post them to my tumblr :)   
> Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next one ;) and I really hope you guys like the next one! Any mistakes you find in this I apologise for and please leave a review with your thoughts!  
> If you’d like a playlist for the next chapter, I recommend:  
> Magic by Coldplay  
> Wicked Games by RAIGN  
> Raise the Dead by Rachel Rabin  
> Mercy by Hurts  
> Sugar by Wanderhouse


	3. Call It Magic When I’m Next To You

Nerves were fluttering around manically in Bonnie’s stomach and her heart was thumping in her chest as they neared the entrance to the party. Klaus offered her his arm and she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow.

“Do you remember the last time we saw each other?” he asked her causing her to glance up at him with a puzzled look.

She nodded slowly, thinking back to their last encounter and almost laughed. “You broke my wrist and I snapped your neck.”

“Ah, yes we’ve had some good times, haven’t we?” he chuckled and this time Bonnie did manage to let a laugh escape her.

He had being oddly calming and supportive since she arrived, nothing like she had been expecting him to be and while she was appreciative of his behaviour she certainly wasn’t expecting it to stick for very long.

“I guess you could put it that way,” she replied as they walked into what Klaus had told her was their old home. “Oh, wow,” Bonnie gaped as she looked around the compound completely decked out for the party. She was left amazed by the aerial dancers hanging from silk ribbons and masked dancers with snakes wrapped around them. She had been under the impression that Mystic Falls had extravagant parties, she was wrong. “I’m definitely not in Mystic Falls anymore.”

Bonnie wished Caroline was here to see it. Her party loving friend would have loved this…or been jealous by it, probably both. She still remembers the blonde’s reaction when she thought Klaus threw a better Homecoming than she did.

Klaus chuckled and patted her hand.

Bonnie spotted Rebekah waving to her from one of the bar stations around the area. She gave the blonde Original a small smile, but that smile quickly faded when she watched Kol walk away from Rebekah. She shook her head at him and let out a sigh.

“I think your brother and I need to talk,” she said, letting of Klaus’ arm and left the hybrid to follow after Kol, gathering up some of the fabric to her dress in her hand so she didn’t trip over it as she went after him.

“I’m getting pretty sick and tired of you walking away from me, Kol,” she said, knowing full well that he could hear her loud and clear. She knew he’d be completely tuned into her right now no matter how much he didn’t want to be.

She refrained from sighing in relief when he finally stopped with his long strides long enough for her to catch up with him, when she did she noticed they had moved away from all the commotion of the party and to a more secluded area. He turned around and she was taken aback by the glare in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her, his tone desperate and angry.

“I…” Bonnie swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She hadn’t known how tonight would play out but she certainly wasn’t expecting him to be this angry with her being here. “Rebekah asked me to come. She wanted my help with finding Elijah,” she explained, her words curt.

“We already have a plan,” he snapped at her. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Then take it up with your sister,” she shot back at him, her voice rising along with her temper. Rebekah had made it sound like Kol had actually missed her. That he was hurting but standing there in front of him made her doubt every word she was told. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here. “She’s the one who wanted me here tonight,” she added, lowering her voice back to normal volume.

“Yeah, I can only imagine why she would want you here,” Kol cast a glare over her shoulder in the direction of his siblings. “Klaus obviously had a part to play in this too I imagine. No way would he turn down the opportunity for a powerful little puppet to be at his beck and call.”

Bonnie felt a strong urge to fry his brain until it was nothing but ash but she refrained from doing so. “I’m not here for Klaus, I’m clearly here for you, you idiot.”

There was a flash of emotion in his eyes but it was gone before she could even recognise what it was. “Well then, you have my permission to leave,” he said, voice low and uncaring to match the cold harshness she saw in his eyes. “I don’t need you nor do I want you.”

Bonnie felt her heart clench and her jaw slackened at his words. She tried to ignore the hurt that hit her like a punch to the gut but she couldn’t.

“I…” she started to say something but instead she let out a defeated sigh. “Just forget it,” she said and turned around to walk away from him. She had hoped that he’d say something or take her arm or something but he did nothing, just stood there and watched her walk away.

Bonnie headed back into the heart of the party, meeting Rebekah’s eyes from a little way away. The blonde sent her an apologetic smile and Bonnie replied with a small shrug, telling her it wasn’t her fault. Maybe it was a good thing it went this way. Now all she could do was help them get Elijah back then she’d be back on her way home and never have to see him again.

She pushed some hair back behind her ear and looked around the party, not really sure what she wanted to do now. She mostly just wanted to get out of here but she knew Rebekah and Klaus had a plan that was yet to be executed and she didn’t know the way back so she was stuck here for the time being.

“You must be Klaus’ date,” someone said when they appeared in front of her.

“Date?” Bonnie nearly chocked out and looked up at the handsome stranger blocking her path, wondering who he was but she had a strong feeling she already knew. “No, I’m definitely not his date.”

He sent her a smile that was none short of charming and then his eyes went over her shoulder. “I’m Marcel,” he introduced himself and Bonnie did her best to remain unaffected by the reveal of his identity.

“Bonnie,” she replied and took his outstretched hand, smiling lightly when he raised it to his lips to place a kiss to her knuckles.

She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw Klaus and Rebekah staring intently at them and then to Kol who was no longer where she left him but instead making his way towards them, eyes murderous and trained on the man standing with her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Klaus heading over to them, too.

“You must be important to them to gain a reaction like that,” Marcel commented but his eyes were on Kol, as if to say _especially from him_.

Before she could say anything back she felt Kol’s hand on her shoulder. She repressed her reaction when she felt his other hand on her arm just below her elbow, gliding down to take her hand in his. She couldn’t see his eyes but she knew they were still trained on Marcel.

“No need to cause a scene, Kol,” Klaus calmly warned his brother as he joined the three of them.

Bonnie had at least expected Kol to have some sort of retort or insult to shoot at Marcel, or even at Klaus, she hadn’t expected him to silently abide Klaus’ words. She felt his grip on her shoulder and around her hand tightened and he steered her away from Klaus and Marcel.

“Who is she?” Marcel asked Klaus with keen interest and a hint of amusement as they watched Kol practically drag Bonnie away from them.

“The reason Kol will feed you your own heart if you’re not careful,” Klaus replied, the unspoken warning to keep away from her clear in his tone.

Marcel scoffed. “From my experience it doesn’t take much for your brother to do that anyway.”

“You don’t know my brother half as well as you think you do, Marcel,” Klaus stated, eying his protégé from the corner of his eye. “You asked me to keep him in line,” he said and then looked towards where Kol and Bonnie had moved to. “She is how I do that.”

XXX

Kol stopped on the other side of the room, near all the dancing couples and turned around to face Bonnie’s aggravated glare.

“What the hell was that?” she questioned him, annoyed that he had gone from dismissive and hurtful to protective in a matter of seconds.

“You really shouldn’t be here,” he told her again, only this time his voice was softer and most of the anger she saw in his eyes earlier had faded and instead were replaced with what Bonnie interpreted as a hint of fear.

She didn’t respond and she felt his arm snaked around her waist to pull her closer to him, their bodies not quite touching. He took a hold of her left hand with his right one and she let her free one find its way to his shoulder. They started to sway to the slow music playing in the background.

“I’m sorry,” she heard him say softly when he touched his cheek to the top of her head.

“What for?” she asked, wanting him to narrow the pool of things to apologise for since there were now a number of things she wanted him to apologise for.

“For what I said to you back there,” he said. “You didn’t deserve that and I didn’t mean it. Not a word of it.”

She made a sound of agreement in the back of her throat. “No, I didn’t deserve it and you were a total asshole but I probably shouldn’t have blindsided you like that so I guess I’m sorry, too.”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” he assured her. “But you’re right, you were the last person I expected to walk through that door,” he admitted, a hint of a smile playing at his lips. “And on Nik’s arm, no less. I was caught off guard.”

“That was a surprise to me as well,” she said with a faint laugh. “But he was tolerable, some might even say decent, so I’ll forgive Rebekah for it just this once.”

“Your hair looks nice,” he complimented her and his hand came up to run through the ends of it softly before returning back to her lower back. “It suits you.”

“Felt like I needed a change,” she replied, ignoring how nice it felt to have his hands running through her hair. “Cutting it seemed like the easiest and quickest way to achieve that at the time.”

Kol twirled her around and gently pulled her back to him, their bodies now pressed together. He wrapped both arms around her, holding her securely against him.

Bonnie slipped her arm under his and curled her arm up his shoulder blades so her hand rest on his shoulder, the other still around his other shoulder and neck. She let her forehead drop to his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting herself breath him in and his presence surround her completely, almost lulling her into a state of bliss.

They were content with the silence that fell over them and for the first time in a long, long while, Bonnie felt completely at ease. She let herself relax and ignore her surroundings, only focusing on Kol.

After three months of nothing, it felt wonderful to be back in his arms.

When Bonnie opened her eyes, she looked over Kol’s shoulder and saw Marcel with a few other guys, vampires she assumed, gathered near one of the entrances of the party. They all looked tense and Marcel seemed furious with one of them.

“What’s going on there?” she quietly asked Kol while watching Marcel pin one of them to the wall by his throat.

“Our plan,” he answered her in a whisper, his lips brushing against her ear causing her grip on his shoulder to tighten slightly.

Her eyes closed when she felt him place a kiss to the skin just below her ear. It had been a small gesture, barely a touch but it had her heart racing, the need to have those lips on hers almost unbearable.

“Do we need to do anything?” she asked him and found herself hoping and praying for some kind of distraction, something to stop her from acting out her need and desires to kiss him.

She felt him shake his head. “It’s all taken care of. You don’t need to do a thing but we can leave if you’d like,” he offered and Bonnie nodded her head.

He slowly pulled away from her, taking all the warmth of his body with him making her want to pull him back to her. One of his hands lowered to take one of hers and start to lead her to the exit that wasn’t occupied by Marcel and his vampires. They found Klaus by one of the bars but there was no sign of Rebekah. Kol nodded to his brother and indicated that they were leaving.

XXX

Bonnie settled in on the couch back at the mansion and wasted no time in removing the heels from her feet.

“Can I get you a drink?” Kol offered as he shrugged out of his jacket and threw it over the backs of one of the chairs.

She nodded. “Sure,” she said and started to nervously twist her ring around her finger.

Unlike at the party, the silence that fell upon them was unwelcomed, now and during the short trip back and had only made Bonnie’s nerves return full force.

“So,” she started in an attempt to break the silence surrounding them and pushed some hair behind her ear. “I take it there’s some bad blood between you and Marcel,” Bonnie said, thinking back to the way the two of them reacted around the other.

“To put it mildly,” he replied and handed Bonnie her drink, their fingers just barely brushing each other’s. “We’ve never particularly liked each other.”

“Would never have guessed it,” she said with a mock seriousness. “Did something happen between the two of you or is it just a case of not liking each other?”

Kol shrugged his shoulders and sat down beside her on the couch. “I didn’t have as much to do with him as the rest of my siblings did but there was a time where my brother’s chose him over me and left me in a box because of it. Then there was what he did to Bekah which also left her in a box.”

“She mentioned that they had a thing,” Bonnie said and took a small sip of her drink, coughing slightly at the burning sensation in her throat when she swallowed the liquid causing Kol to smile into his own drink.

“Perhaps I’ll make you something a little less strong next time,” he teased lightly and revelled in the playful glare he received from her. “But yes, Rebekah and Marcel were once involved for a time. It earned her fifty two years in a coffin.”

“I don’t think I want to know how many years Klaus has taken from you all,” she said and looked down at her drink.

“Over three hundred years from me, a bit less from Rebekah, nine hundred from Finn, and Elijah, well I’m not too sure on the total for him.”

Bonnie didn’t say anything but she couldn’t stop the bitterness from rising. She was annoyed that Kol chose to help Klaus after all he’s done to him and his siblings instead of staying with her. She knew that it was selfish of her to think since Klaus was his brother but she couldn’t help it.

“I won’t lie, one of the reasons I don’t want you here is because I don’t want you to get caught up in Nik’s schemes. I don’t want you to get hurt because he’s used you to further himself.”

What he said to her reminded her of what he said when she first arrived at the party. Even though he had apologised, his words still played through her mind and made her wonder whether or not she should leave.

“Look, If you want me to go, I’ll leave as soon as I do the locator spell and Elijah’s back,” she said and occupied herself with tracing her fingers over the grooves and pattern on the glass tumbler in her hands.

“It’s not that I don’t want you here,” Kol started, his hands itching to reach over and touch her. “I do want you here,” he admitted. _I need you here,_ he wanted to add. “But I don’t want anything to happen to you, especially not because of me, because of something I have done, someone I have angered.”

Bonnie looked up at him. “You mean someone like Marcel?”

He slowly nodded his head and finished off his drink. “I’ve gone out of my way to provoke him these last few months and now he knows that there is someone he can use against me.”

Bonnie sighed and leant forward to place her glass on the table then grabbing Kol’s and doing the same. She twisted in her seat so she could face him. “You don’t need to protect me,” she told him. “And I don’t know Marcel but is he really stupid enough to even try to piss you off?”

“He really is that stupid,” he replied and reached over to take her hand. “And if he finds out you’re a witch…”

She laced their fingers together and shifted closer to him. He placed his other hand on her thigh, his warmth burning through the fabric of her dress and searing her skin.

“Do you remember when you came back to Mystic Falls after the first time you left and I had just started to learn Expression?” she asked him, looking down at their entwined fingers. “I took you down pretty easily,” she reminded him and looked up at him with a playful smile. “I’m sure I could handle Marcel if he tried anything.”

He leant forward to rest his forehead against hers, his hand moving from her thigh to her jaw. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you these last three months,” he said to her, his voice barely above a whisper.

Bonnie scraped her teeth over her bottom lip and her fingers dug into his leg. “You’re the one who walked away,” she reminded him. “It didn’t have to be like this.”

Her eyes shut when he brushed his lips against hers in a touch barely there. She wanted so badly to kiss him and it took every ounce of will power she had to resist the temptation.

He opened his mouth to say something but the front door opening and slamming shut jolted them both out of their trance. Kol’s hand dropped from her face and Bonnie moved back on the couch, putting some safe distance between each other just as Rebekah walked into the room.

“How’d it go?” Kol asked his sister and rose from the couch. “Did you find Elijah?”

Rebekah shook her head and all but threw herself down on one of the chairs across from them. “Katie was killed before Sophie could finish the locator spell. Had she of continued it, Davina would have seen her, Marcel would have moved her and Elijah before we could get to them and he would have had Sophie killed.”

“Davina’s the one who can sense magic?” Bonnie asked them and Rebekah nodded her head.

“We don’t know why or how she is able to as of yet,” the blonde said, her tone laced with defeat. “But she has all the witches terrified to use their magic and desperate to get her back.”

“There is a lot we don’t know about these witches,” Kol interjected, fists clenched at his side.         

“Is she with Marcel willingly?”

“It seems that way,” Rebekah replied. “From what I saw it did, anyway. But like Kol said, there is a lot we don’t know and a lot they won’t tell us which is why I didn’t want Sophie to get herself killed,” she said, directing her last comment at Kol. “She’s the only one here willing to work with us and she’ll tell us what we need to know, I’m sure of it.”

“Did he like seduce her or something?” she wondered, knowing that it wasn’t unusual for vampires to seduce witches into doing whatever they wanted.

Rebekah gave a small laugh and Kol cracked a smile. “No, definitely not,” Rebekah said. “She couldn’t be older than sixteen. We don’t know why she is so loyal to Marcel but it’s something we intend to find out and Sophie will tell us whether she wants to or not.”

XXX

Soon enough, Klaus returned and joined them but he wasn’t sharing in Rebekah’s feelings of defeat of the evenings events.

“Tonight was a bust,” she said to Klaus who replied with a smirk before pouring himself a drink.

“Contrary, dear sister, tonight played out brilliantly.”

Rebekah furrowed her brow and stared at Klaus with confused while Kol narrowed his eyes.

“Marcel killed Katie before Sophie had a chance to finish the spell,” Rebekah told him and sat up straighter in her chair.

“I had no intentions of Sophie completing the spell,” Klaus said and the uneasiness Bonnie felt when she first arrived started to flare back up. “It’s why I killed Katie myself.”

Bonnie glanced at Kol who looked annoyed but not at all surprised to hear what Klaus had done.

Rebekah stood from her seat, shock etched in her eyes. “You what?”

“Katie was too close to killing Marcel and I couldn’t have that but by saving his life, I now have Marcel right where I want him,” Klaus said, rejoicing in his self-serving victory.

“What about Sophie?” Rebekah questioned. “She trusted you; we all trusted you against our better judgement and you had another plan all along.”

“The only side the witches are on is their own,” Klaus said, stepping towards his sister. “And they want Davina, a young witch with a mass amount of power and when they get her they will use that power against all of us. They will kill us the moment they get the chance.”

“I don’t care what the witches want or plan to do,” Rebekah snapped and got in Klaus face. “The plan was to find Elijah and bring him home but once again you have failed us.”

Bonnie saw a flash of hurt on Klaus face but he quickly covered it with anger at the doubts of his sister. “By saving Marcel from the witch I have cemented his trust and in doing so, he has promised to return Elijah to us,” he didn’t revel in the shock of his siblings and continued on talking. “And when Marcel has told me everything I wish to know about Davina, I will take her for myself.”

Klaus was too busy listening to Rebekah’s response and watching his sister storm from the house that he didn’t see the look that crossed Bonnie’s face upon hearing his plans for the young witch, Davina.

They heard Rebekah slam the front door behind her and Bonnie awkwardly sat there, looking between the two brothers. She could tell from Kol’s clenched jaw that he wanted to say something to Klaus but was refraining from doing so, probably due to her presence.

“I’m going to go get changed,” she said and excused herself from the tension filled room, brushing her hand against Kol’s arm when she passed him. He replied with a small but tense smile.

Kol waited until he could hear Bonnie reach the top of the stairs before he looked to his brother.

“Was this your plan all along?” he asked his brother. “To kill Katie yourself for the sake of gaining Marcel’s trust, not to get back our brother like we had discussed, like you had promised?”

“Doesn’t matter now,” he said and set his now empty glass on top of the fireplace. “We have Bonnie, she’ll find Elijah if Marcel goes back on his word to return him to us. Either way, what I did will work in our favour.”

“Speaking of Bonnie, you and Rebekah encouraged her to come here and while I know Rebekah will do her part to make sure no harm comes to her, I’m not so sure about you,” he said and walked towards his brother. “So know this, if anything happens to her because of you, I will take the dagger you left in my heart for a century and use it to gut you with.”

Klaus did his best to remain impassive to his brother’s words but Kol could see through him. He was serious with his threats and Klaus knew it. “I assure you, Kol, I have no desire to put her in harm’s way.”

“I’m sure you’ll understand if I choose not to believe you with what happened tonight and all.”

“What happened this evening was for the best,” Klaus said. “This way I still have Marcel’s trust.”

“It’s not Marcel’s trust you should be worrying about, brother,” Kol replied and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s ours and after tonight I begin to wonder if it’s even possible for us to trust you anymore.”

XXX

Bonnie went straight for her purse when she got to her room. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her phone, cringing at the amount of missed calls she had from Lucy. She hadn’t yet told her cousin that she was in New Orleans but judging from the large number of missed calls and demanding text messages, Joanna must have told her.

She hit redial before she could talk herself out of it and held her phone to her ear, waiting for her cousin to answer.

“What the hell is this I hear about you being in New Orleans?” Bonnie winced at her cousin’s furious and demanding tone. “I thought we agreed no more vampire business.”

“I was going to tell you,” she said and sat down on the chest at the foot of the bed. “I just didn’t want to worry you. I wanted you to enjoy your time away.”

She heard Lucy sigh but she knew her concern did nothing to ease her cousin’s anger. “You’re my family, Bonnie, I’m always going to worry about you,” she said. “I don’t like the thought of you being there and I don’t care what my crazy mother told you, it wasn’t a good idea for you to go and not just because of what’s happening between the witches and the vampires. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“I’m going to be careful,” she assured her cousin, addressing both of Lucy’s concerns with her being in New Orleans. “And if you’re that worried about me, then maybe when you get back you could join me here?”

It was a suggestion Bonnie didn’t realise her cousin would actually take serious. “Considering that I don’t trust those Originals with your safety as far as I could throw them, maybe I will. Someone has to look out for you.”

“I’m sure Elijah would like to see you again,” Bonnie added and a smile started to pull at her lips knowing that her cousin would always have a soft spot for the eldest Mikaelson brother no matter how much she tried to deny it. “He’s currently missing with a dagger in his heart but I’m doing a locator spell tomorrow morning to find him.”

“I don’t think I even want to know what happened there but then again I don’t care because I warned him,” Lucy said, her annoyance no longer directed at Bonnie but now at Elijah. “I warned him that Klaus would be the death of him but of course he doesn’t listen, the stubborn bastard.”

“I never realised that you and Elijah were that serious,” Bonnie said, her tone conveying her surprise. She knew Lucy and Elijah had some kind of relationship but her cousin had never gone into much detail about the two of them and she had no idea that Lucy had been so concerned with Elijah’s blinding loyalty to a brother who clearly did not return it.

“We weren’t,” she replied a little too quickly for Bonnie to believe her.

“Uh huh,” she drawled out, letting Lucy know that she didn’t believe her.

“Don’t change the topic. I’m still furious with you,” Lucy snapped but she only caused Bonnie’s smile to grow. “You should have told me you were going.”

“So you could have stopped me?”

She heard her cousin sigh. “You being in New Orleans with Kol scares me, Bonnie,” she confessed. “I can’t shake the feeling that something is going to happen and he’s going to hurt you again, whether it is by his hands or someone else’s.”

“That makes two of you,” Bonnie told her and ran her fingers through her hair. “He’s worried about the same thing.”

“Good to know he has more than two brain cells left,” Lucy uttered under her breath. “Still does nothing to ease my concerns.”

“Sounds like nothing will,” Bonnie said. “But I’ve decided to spend at least a week here,” she told her cousin. “And if after that I don’t like being here then I’ll be on the first flight back home.”

“If after a week you are not back, I’ll be coming there,” Lucy responded. “No way in hell I’m going to leave you there on your own. I don’t care how hard they try to keep you safe; you need family there to have your back.”

Bonnie’s lips curved up in a smile. “And this has nothing to do with the possibility of seeing Elijah again?”

“Shut up,” she playfully snapped, making Bonnie laugh softly. “Call me tomorrow, okay?”

“I will,” Bonnie promised her. “And if anything happens I’ll let you know.”

“Be safe, Bonnie,” Lucy said.

“I’ll tell Elijah you said hi,” Bonnie replied with a smirk.

“I’m just going to hang up,” Lucy said but Bonnie could tell she was smiling. “Love you cuz, even though you’re a pain in my ass.”

Bonnie laughed again. “Love you, too.”

“Everything okay?” she heard Kol’s voice ask from the doorway.

She looked up and gave him a small smile. “Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t hear anything crashing down stairs; I take it as a good sign?”

The last time she saw Kol, his relationship with Klaus was practically non-existent. She wondered if it had improved since he followed him here. She hoped it had since she figured the friendlier they were the less likely it’d be that he got a dagger in the heart.

“Everything’s fine,” he told her. “Just making sure Nik and I are on the same page.”

“Can I ask you something?” She asked before he could walk away. He replied with a nod. “This Katie you were talking about before, did she know what she was walking into or was she just another unwitting pawn in Klaus’ schemes?”

“We all agreed it was for the best,” he told her, refusing to hide his part in the plan, refusing to lie to her. “We needed to conceal Sophie’s spell and Katie was in a relationship with one of Marcel’s most trusted vampires. Her circumstances fit what we needed.”

“The one at the party,” she guessed quietly, remembering Marcel throwing a guy against a wall in anger.

“We wanted to paint Thierry as a traitor and of course Katie would try to save him from Marcel’s punishment creating the perfect cover for Sophie’s spell. Davina wouldn’t have seen Sophie and wouldn’t have known we were looking for her.”

“Did Sophie know?”

“She did. She’s the one who told us that Katie was the witch Thierry was involved with.”

“She gave up one of her own just like that?” she questioned, a little stunned.

Kol shrugged his shoulders. “It took some convincing but Sophie is smart enough to see the bigger picture.” The look on Bonnie’s face made Kol sigh and run a hand through his hair. “New Orleans isn’t Mystic Falls, Bonnie,” he said and Bonnie remembered him saying the same thing the night he left her. “Things will happen that you won’t approve of and if you don’t want to know then I won’t tell you and I’ll try to keep you out of it as much as I can but if you do, I’m not going to lie.”

Bonnie chewed on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t know if she could handle what would be happening here but she also knew that if she wanted to be a part of it then she needed to know all the facts, not just the bits she could cope with.

“I don’t want to be lied to.”

“We’re not going to force you to stay here. Any time you want to leave you can, I won’t stop you,” he promised her.

“Sorry you didn’t get Elijah back tonight,” she said just as he turned to walk away. “But hopefully I can find him tomorrow morning.”

He gave her a small smile. “If you need anything, I’m just down the hall,” he told her and she nodded just before he walked off towards his room.

Bonnie waited a few minutes (hearing the door to his room down the hall close) before she got up off the chest and walked over to the dresser, removing all the bits of jewellery she wore and carefully placed them back in the box onto of the dresser. She took off the dress and put it back on the hanger before tucking it away in the wardrobe. She pulled out some sleep shorts and a tank from her bag and decided to leave the unpacking until tomorrow. She got dressed in the bathroom and removed all the makeup she had put on for the party.

All the while she couldn’t rid Kol from her head. It wasn’t anything he had told her tonight but just simple desire that had been building inside of her since the moment she laid eyes on him at the party. It had gone into overdrive when they returned to the mansion and she was both thankful and disappointed for Rebekah’s interruption downstairs. A few more minutes and she would have kissed him and who knows after that.

She tried to ignore it as she crawled into the comfortable bed, tried to push it deeper down but it was an itch that refused to go away until tended to but Bonnie was as stubborn as the itch persistent.

At least for a short while anyway.

Bonnie managed to lie in the bed for five full tortuous minutes before she snapped and shot up and left her room, heading straight to where Kol had directed her. She let herself into Kol’s room without knocking and she took the time to notice that his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing his bare chest and torso. Had it not been for the desperate need for him she could no longer contain she probably would have let herself admired the view a bit longer.

He didn’t say anything as she approached him, just eyed her with curiosity and lust. He didn’t resist when she grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him down, crashing their lips together in a desperate and long overdue kiss.

His response was immediate and enthusiastic as he took her by the hips and pulled her flush against his body. He buried a hand in her hair and pushed his tongue between her lips, relishing in her sweet moan.

Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and shoulders, holding him as tight as she could as their tongues danced.

It was almost impossible for Bonnie to pull herself away from him, even when oxygen was dire. She managed to pull back and her fingers dug into his shoulders when she felt his lips trail along her jaw. She gasped when he nipped the skin between her ear and jaw. Her head fell back when his hand slid under the back of her shirt, giving him perfect access to her neck and throat and he took full advantage of the exposure, nipping her skin and soothing the bite with kisses that had her trembling in his arms.

She lifted her head back upright and brought his lips to hers once again, biting down on his bottom lip a little harsher than she had intended but that had only seemed to encourage him more as he spun them around and had her back against the wall in less than a second.

His hand cupped the side of her face and deepened the kiss more. One of her legs hooked around his waist and his other hand dropped to grip it and hold it tight. She moaned into his mouth when she felt his hardness against her core through her thin sleep shorts.

Kol was the one to pull back this time but he didn’t move away from her, just pressed his forehead against her. He would have loved to continue what they were doing, would have loved to move her over to his bed, rid her of her clothes and spend the rest of the night and the entirety of tomorrow making up for the three long months of lost time between them. But he knew that’s not what she came in for.

He watched her start to come to her senses through her lust filled haze and knew any minute she’d probably start apologising and he didn’t want that so he placed a chaste kiss to her lips and gave her a smile so soft and gentle it nearly made her melt.

“Sweet dreams, beautiful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was there enough Kennett here for you? ;) They weren’t meant to kiss at the end but what the hell, right? I felt like they needed to but the tension and the angst won’t end here because I love it too much.  
> Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it and I’m happy you’re enjoying it! Some of you mentioned the Klaus/Bonnie scenes and I’m glad you enjoyed those because aside from Kennett, that’s the relationship I’m most looking forward to delving into (non-romantically of course). They are going to have a roller coaster of a relationship!  
> And if you’re wondering (or even hoping) if Sophie and Bonnie will meet the answer is HELL YES! I’m actually wondering if I should take the route of the show with her character circa episode 13 (if you’ve seen the Original’s you’ll know what I’m taking about) or not. I don’t really want to because I like her so what do you guys think?  
> Also, just to let you know that I’ve decided to take a two week break from uploading just so I can get two or three more chapters done in advanced so I don’t have to worry about missing my one week goal since some chapters come easier to write than others. I might end up uploading next week but if I don’t I just thought I’d give you guys a heads up. Hopefully the Kennett in this chapter will make up for it if I don’t :) Next chapter Bonnie and Rebekah will have an actual reunion/catch up  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, any mistakes you find in this I apologise for (only a rough edit so there’s probably a lot) and please let me know what you think!


	4. The Rising Sun

XXX

Bonnie flattened out a map of the French Quarter on the table in front of her. She picked up the knife Klaus had placed next to it and held it up, looking at the three Originals expectantly. “I need blood to find Elijah so who’s offering?”

She couldn’t help her smile when Kol got up and knelt down on the other side of the table and offered her his hand. She was hoping it’d be him. She took his hand with one of hers and with the other she dragged the tip of the blade across his palm, a little deeper and harder than necessary judging by the sound of his sharp hiss.

She could feel his intense gaze on her when she turned his hand over to let a few drops of his blood drip down onto the map while placing the knife back on the table and let go of Kol’s already healing hand.

Closing her eyes, she began to chant.

“ _Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras Sequita Saguines Ementas Asten Mihan Ega Petous.”_ Her chanting continued as she opened her eyes and she watched with the others as the blood trailed across the map. “There,” she said and pointed to the spot on the map where the blood had stopped. “Is there something there you know of where Marcel could be keeping Elijah?”

“All I remember is an attic of some kind, and shutters,” Rebekah told them as she stepped forward to peer down at the map with Klaus doing the same. “Some sort of old building perhaps?"

“There is a church there,” Kol said. “St. Anne’s or something, and from what I’ve seen of it, it appears to be abandoned.”

“Right then,” Rebekah said and pushed herself out of her chair. “I’m off to bring back our brother.”

“And I need to meet with Marcel,” Klaus added, following his sister’s path. “Perhaps he’ll still be willing to hand Elijah over himself.”

“Doubt it,” Kol said and wiped the remaining blood off his palm and onto his jeans. “The little weasel will welch on his side of the deal, hence why we have Bonnie,” he turned to her and sent her a wink, “doing the locator spell in the first place.”

He was ignored as his siblings left the room, the front door opening and closing.

“Well, then,” Kol said and turned to Bonnie with a grin that told her he was up to no good. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Beautiful.”

She gave no reply.

“Still cross I take it?” Kol asked her. There was no accusation in his tone, he sounded more amused if anything.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded nonchalantly and carefully scrunched up the map to prevent any blood from dripping onto the table or the floor.

He followed her when she got up and made her way to the kitchen. “I think that knife nearly went through my hand,” he pouted and held his hand up like it hurt.

“You’ll live,” she said and dropped the map in the trash.

He stepped in front of her before she could leave the kitchen. “And here I was thinking that we were starting to get along again,” he said and Bonnie avoided looking into his eyes.

She was still reeling from last night’s kiss and it probably wouldn’t take much for her to throw herself at him and pick up right where they left off. If she was to avoid that, she’d need to put distance between them. Now that she thought about it, she probably should have gone with Rebekah to find Elijah instead of staying here alone with Kol.

“We are,” she said and side stepped him to escape the kitchen but he stretched his arm out to block her path, his hand flat on the counter top next to her.

“Are we?” he questioned her, his voice full of doubt. “I find that hard to believe when you can’t even look me in the eye.”

To prove him wrong she turned and looked him dead in the eye. “We’re fine, Kol, really,” she told him again but she could still see the doubt he felt in his eyes.

“You’ve always been a terrible liar,” he said and a faint smile played at his lips. “Glad to see some things haven’t changed.”

Bonnie sighed and looked away from him. He had dropped his arm but she didn’t make a move to leave the kitchen. “Okay, we’re not fine,” she admitted and met his gaze again. “I’m still pissed at you and whenever I look at you I’m not sure whether I want to kiss you or run away.”

He closed the distance between them with a single step and grabbed for her hand. He raised their hands to his chest, holding hers over his heart. “If sticking a dagger in my heart will make you feel better, then do it.” He held her hand tighter to him.

“That wouldn’t make me feel better,” she said softly and concentrated on the feel of his heart beating beneath her hand. The steady beating coupled with the warmth of his hand covering hers was almost enough to make her lean into him, to close that measly gap between them. “Hurting you won’t make me feel better.”

“Then tell me what will,” he replied and she could hear the desperation in his tone. “Having you so close and not being able to do anything about it or even not knowing where I stand with you is going to drive me crazy,” he said and squeezed her hand. “It already is.”

She silently agreed. She could barely be in the same room as him without wanting to jump him.

Kol’s other hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing softly against her cheek bone. Her eyes closed and she leant into his touch.

“I need to kiss you,” he said, voice low and husky and completely irresistible. “Can I?”

She only nodded her head once before she felt his lips on hers.

He kissed her softly and slowly, less urgent than their one last night but somehow more passionate. His hand left hers and wrapped around her waist to pull her closer to him and Bonnie looped her arms around his neck, getting on her tip toes.

Kol tightened his hold around her waist before he hoisted her up on to the counter and stood between her parted legs.

One of her hands tangled in his soft hair and she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him tightly against her.

“We need to stop,” Bonnie murmured against his lips. “This can’t keep happening.”

She felt him nod his head but neither of them made a move to break it, in fact, the opposite happened. Bonnie didn’t hesitate to part her lips after Kol gently nipped at and swiped his tongue across her bottom lip.

His hands trailed up and down her torso before he gripped tight to her hips. Bonnie felt a gush of wind before her back landed on something soft and cushiony.

The little voice in her head telling her that this was a bad idea and to stop was getting quieter and quieter when Kol’s mouth left hers and began to place kisses to her jaw then down her neck. She tossed her head back into the pillow underneath her head with a soft whimper and unconsciously tightened her legs around his hips when sunk his teeth into the bit of skin between her neck and her shoulder hard enough to cause a flush of heat to spread over her, muting that little voice even more.

His name escaped her lips in a breathy sigh and she bit down on her bottom lip to hold back her moan when one of his hands slid underneath her to her lower back and lifted her off the couch and started to move his hips in a circular motion against hers.

She heard him growl when she pushed back against him. He shifted all he weight onto one hand as he let the other drag torturously slow across her shoulder, down her chest, between her breasts and down her stomach, and coming to rest at the button on her jeans.

He nipped at her jaw, his pleading gaze meeting hers as he let his finger fiddle with the button of her jeans in a silent question, all the while his slow grinding working her to insanity.

It was an incessant buzzing from the coffee table a few feet away that started to pull her from the lusty haze of her mind and back into reality, a reality where they should not be doing this right now.

Kol’s movements were slow and reluctant when Bonnie started to disentangle herself from him and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She avoided his piercing stare as she reached for her phone buzzing away on the coffee table, the screen flashing with Kendra’s name and face.

“I need to get this,” Bonnie said, her voice nothing more than a murmur as she picked up her phone and swiped her finger over the screen to accept the call. “Hey, Ken,” she greeted her cousin and tried to ignore Kol’s hand resting on her thigh, his fingers gently kneading the flesh.

She tried to repress the shiver when he leant in and touched his lips to the spot just below her ear. She tried to focus on her cousin’s voice and not the feel of Kol’s lips moving along her neck, his hand slowly moving up her thigh.

“You busy?” Kendra asked and Kol caught the lobe of her ear between his teeth and tugged before swirling his tongue around it.

“You’re busy,” he rasped quietly in her ear before he nipped at her jaw.

Bonnie closed her eyes and willed away the desire the throw her phone to the side and pull him down and pick up where they left off but she knew they couldn’t keep going like this, ripping each other’s clothes off and pawing at each other like teenagers whenever they were alone.

“No,” she said, speaking to both her cousin and Kol, and opened her eyes. “I’m not busy.”

She felt Kol freeze, lips still at her jaw and hand still on her thigh. She gave him an apologetic smile before pulling herself away from him and standing up.

She couldn’t bring herself to look back as she left the room and headed back to the kitchen, listening half-heartedly as Kendra chatted away on the other line.

XXX

“What, you gonna keep me in suspense all day?” Marcel pushed Klaus while pouring them both another shot. “I want to know more about that girl you brought to the fundraiser last night. The pretty little thing that had your brother acting all civilised.”

Klaus chuckled and folded his arms atop the bar. “Kol met her a little over a year ago, back during my time in Mystic Falls” he told Marcel, and watched the younger vampire out of the corner of his eye. “She’s a witch with a stubborn moral conscience.” He held back his smirk at Marcel’s reaction.

“A witch?” Marcel questioned lowly. “You brought an outside witch to town?”

“Calm down, Marcellus,” Klaus said, and his lips curved up in a smirk as he picked up his shot. “This witch wouldn’t do a spell for me if I got down on my knees and begged her. She’s still a tad bitter about the time I tried to kill her and almost everyone else that she cares about.”

A look of doubt crossed Marcel’s face. “But she’s got a thing for your brother who is worse than you?”

Klaus shrugged and poured himself another shot. “If you want to know about my brother’s relationship with Bonnie then you’ll have to ask him yourself. Just know that Kol will burn this city to the ground if you lay a hand, eye or thought on her.”

“She’s that important, huh?” Marcel asked and downed his shot. “I didn’t know your brother was capable of that kind of emotion.”

“Like I said last night, Marcel, you don’t know Kol half as well as you think you do, so believe me when I tell you, stay away from her.”

“So long as she doesn’t cause any problems for me, my guys, and what we’re doing here, we’ll leave her be.”

“She’s only here to prevent my brother from ending up in a box for another century. He behaves when she’s around.”

XXX

Kol clutched the neck of the bottle he was using to take the edge off as he listened intently to Bonnie chatting away to who he gathered was one of her cousin. He reclined back on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, bottle resting on his thigh as he imagined crushing her phone in his hands and picking up right where they left off.

He wanted her back underneath him, head thrown back, neck exposed and lips swollen from his kisses. He wanted her legs wrapped tight around his waist, wanted to hear the way her breath hitched when he started moving against her, his hips moving against hers in a slow grind.

He rubbed his hand down his face before he brought the bottle to his lips and took another long sip.

“A little early for day drinking, isn’t it?” Bonnie said when she came back into the room and noticed the bourbon in his hand.

He just shrugged in response causing Bonnie to let out a frustrated sigh. She walked over to him and placed her phone on the coffee table before taking the bottle from him which he gave up with little struggle.

“Please don’t be a baby about this,” she said and put the bottle back with the rest of the alcohol.

He was silent as she walked back and kicked his feet off the coffee table on her way past. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at that.

“That shouldn’t have happened anyway,” she continued, her tone a little softer this time, and took a seat on the couch opposite him, wanting (and needing) to put some distance between the two of them. “We need to slow down a bit.” She hadn’t even been there twenty-four hours and already jumped him twice.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kol agreed reluctantly. “I should at least ask how you’ve been these last few months.”

Bonnie felt a small smile begin to form. “I’ve been okay. Lucy got me out of Mystic Falls and introduced me to more of my family, more witches.”

“You met more of your family?” he asked and leaned forward with interest.

Bonnie nodded and her smile grew. “I never knew I had that much family left. It was great meeting them all and it’s amazing to be around so many other witches.”

“The girl that rang you earlier?”

“That was Kendra, my younger cousin. She and her sister are only sixteen,” she let out a small laugh. “She’s a bit pissed that I didn’t bring her with me. A little too interested in magic and vampires, that one. Got her mother worried.”

Kol smiled at the way Bonnie spoke of her family, the way her eyes lit up and sparkled. He was glad that she had found some happiness after how he had hurt her that night.

“Have you been back to Mystic Falls since?”

Bonnie shook her head. “No, but Elena and Caroline came by to visit and so did my dad. My dad especially thought it was for the best that I not be in Mystic Falls for a bit…even though he’s not thrilled that I’m surrounded with more witches but them being family gives him some peace of mind.”

There was a long minute of silence between the two of them.

“What about you?” Bonnie asked carefully, remembering Rebekah and Klaus’ vague statements about what he’s been up to. “Causing any trouble?”

Kol smirked. “Always.”

Bonnie smiled to cover up the fact that she was disappointed that he didn’t go on but she assumed he didn’t want her to know exactly what he’s been up to. Whatever it was, though, was enough for Klaus to contemplate locking him away for the next how many years.

….Although, with Klaus, that could mean just about anything.

XXX

It was well into the evening by the time Rebekah returned. She walked into the main room and found Bonnie reclined comfortably on the couch with a laptop resting on her thighs.

“No luck finding Elijah?” Bonnie asked the Original after she sat up and peered behind her for any sign of the older Mikaelson but saw no one.

Rebekah shook her head and poured herself a drink, offering one to Bonnie who declined with a shake of her head but she did pour an extra one for Kol who joined them in the room once hearing Rebekah return. “I did find him,” she said and handed Kol a glass. “But I wasn’t able to get into the attic. Davina had invited me in the first time I was there so she must have put up a barrier spell of some sort so no one can enter while she’s not there.”

Kol looked mildly frustrated. “Do you think you could undo her spell?” he asked Bonnie but Rebekah spoke before she could answer.

“There won’t be a need for that,” she told them, a faint smile playing on her lips. She was glad to finally be able to deliver some good news. “While I was there Elijah and I had nice little chat. Davina had taken the dagger out of him but she’s unaware that the dagger is ineffective without the ash. He’s not back to his full strength but he was able to get inside my head.”

“So he’s awake?” Bonnie asked with some confusion. Her knowledge of the daggers was pretty limited. She knew the dagger had to be coated in the ash of the White Oak tree and left in the heart for it to properly neutralise an Original but that was about it. She didn’t know about the waking up process.

“His mind is awake,” Rebekah said. “But because he’s been without blood for a while it’ll take a little longer for his body to recover.” She turned to Kol. “And he wishes to remain in that attic,” she said. “For a short time at least, he wants to talk to Davina. Establish some trust; see if he can get her out from under Marcel’s influence.”

“Get out from under the thumb of one vampire only to put under another’s,” Bonnie muttered under her breath as she thought back to what Klaus had said about Davina and his plans for her the previous night.

Rebekah shrugged and crossed one leg over the other. “Better she be with us than against us I suppose.”

“And if she doesn’t want to side with Klaus, then what?”  She asked but part of her already knew the answer.

She wouldn’t put it past Klaus to kill a sixteen year old girl.

“Then she better hope that she really is as strong as they have been claiming her to be,” Rebekah said and swirled her drink around in the glass absentmindedly. “Not even Marcel will be able to protect her from a Niklaus who hasn’t gotten his way.”

“And I don’t fancy getting stuck in a box again for standing in the way of Nik and what he wants,” Kol added and downed his drink in one gulp. “So, she’s on her own.”

XXX

Bonnie dialled Lucy’s number and reclined back on one of the chairs that were placed around the glowing blue pool. She frowned when the call rang out and she got her cousin’s voicemail.

“Hey, just letting you know that I’m still alive and thought you might like to know that Elijah is fine and should be back soon but there is something that I need to talk to you about so call me when you get this.”

“I hope what you need to talk to her about is your plans to stay a little longer,” she heard Rebekah say just as she ended her message to Lucy. The blonde took a sat down in the chair closest to Bonnie. “And I’m not the only one who hopes for that even though he probably won’t say it to your face.”

Bonnie smiled and put her phone down next to her thigh. “I haven’t decided just yet.”

“Well, I hope you decide to stay,” she said. “We haven’t had much time to catch up since you’ve arrived and it’s been nice having you here.”

With Bonnie here, Rebekah didn’t have to worry so much about Kol which meant she could focus on brining Elijah home and then get the hell out of this God forsaken city. She was sure that after that incident, Niklaus wouldn’t get the upper hand on Elijah again.

“Where are you heading off to after you leave here?” Bonnie asked Rebekah with curious eyes. “I know you said coming back here was only temporary for you so what are your plans for afterwards?”

The blonde took in a deep breath and stared out over the pool, the water sparkling under the light of the moon. “Truthfully, I have no idea,” she answered. “Mystic Falls holds no appeal to me anymore and I’m too tired to deal with anymore of my family’s infinite issues…” she trailed off. “Maybe I could settle down somewhere quiet and peaceful. That’d be a nice change.”

Bonnie nodded and hummed in agreement. “I’ve forgotten what it’s like to live a normal life.”

Every time she tried something else came up, someone needed her magical assistance, or someone died from a supernatural death.  But compared to Rebekah’s situation, Bonnie knew she had it easy. Rebekah had confided in Bonnie one drunken night in back in London about how she longed for a normal existence and a family of her own, two things she can never have and the two things she wanted more than anything.

“So, how was being left alone with Kol all day?” Rebekah asked suddenly with a twinkle in her blue eyes.

Bonnie groaned and let her head fall back against the chair and Rebekah let out a chuckle.

“That bad, huh?”

“Not bad, just confusing,” she said and stared up at the stars sparkling in the night sky. “I don’t know what I want when I’m around him.”

“He’ll wait until you do know,” Rebekah said and Bonnie rolled her head to the side to look at her. “Whatever you decide to do, he’ll accept it. If you want to leave, he won’t stop you. You could leave right now if you wanted to. Elijah will be back by tomorrow night.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to leave just yet,” Bonnie replied with a teasing smile. “I still haven’t been taken through the French Quarter yet,” she added with playful accusation. “You’ve all kept me cooped up here all day.”

Rebekah sent Bonnie a wicked curve of her lips. “You and I should go out tomorrow night. Bit of a girl’s night out.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Bonnie joked. “But so long as you’re compelling me drinks, I’m in.”

As much as it ashamed Bonnie to admit it, having a friend that was able to compel bartenders to give you drinks while you were still underage (and for free) was a bit of a perk.

Rebekah let out a light laugh and nodded her head. “Done.”

XXX

Bonnie made sure to knock on his door this time before she walked in. “Hey,” she said quietly. “Can we talk?” she asked and stood tensely in her spot as she watched Kol sit down on the edge of the bed and he nodded at her. “I’ve decided to stay a bit longer,” she told him.

He smiled and looked relieved. It made feel regretful for what she was about to say.

She sighed and her eyes found the floor. “But it’s not for us,” she finished and looked back up from the floor to see the look of relief had vanished from his face.

He just stared at her for a long moment before looking away and staring bitterly at the wall across from him. “You’re staying because of what Nik has planned for the witches, aren’t you?” Bonnie didn’t answer him and Kol ran his hand over his face frustrated. “I’d rather you just leave.”

He didn’t want her to get into yet another battle with his brother, one she was guaranteed to lose. New Orleans brought out a different side of Klaus and if Bonnie became too much of a hassle to him and his plans, Kol had no doubt that his brother would kill her without a single thought.

“Well, I’ll be out of here tomorrow,” Bonnie said and shifted nervously on the spot. “My cousin told me the _Palace Royale_ is pretty nice.”

Kol shot up from the bed and Bonnie’s stomach twisted with nerves when he stalked over to her. He stopped only inches away from her and she folded her arms over her chest to avoid a repeat of last night and earlier today.

“No,” was all he said and stared at her with an intensity that seared her to her core, so much so that she had to look away for the sake of her own sanity.

It was getting harder and harder to control herself around him.

His hands took her arms and unfolded them and he wasn’t unaware of how her heart was pounding in her chest. He held back a smile, he was pleased that the affect he had on her hadn’t gone anywhere.

“I’m not going to let you go up against my brother,” he said and was grateful that said brother wasn’t here. “That little feud you had with him back in Mystic Falls is done now.”

“I don’t plan on fighting Klaus,” she said and let him see the truth in her eyes. “I just don’t want him to get control over this girl and all the other witches here.”

“She is not your concern,” he tried to tell her. “And she’s certainly not worth pissing my brother off over.”

“Kol…” she started but he cut her off.

“You know I’ll stop you, right?” he gave her a look that told her he wasn’t joking. “Nik and I may have a rocky relationship but he’s still my brother.”

“I told you I don’t plan on going up against Klaus,” she repeated herself, her voice raised. “I just want to help the witches out. They need help, they need magic.”

“Not yours! It’s too dangerous, Bonnie.”

Bonnie narrowed her eyes defiantly at him. “So I can use my magic to help you find Elijah and whatever else your brother will no doubt ask for but when I want to help someone who needs it, it’s suddenly a problem for you?”

“Davina has all the French Quarter witches looking for her, she is their problem not yours,” he tried to tell her. “There is no reason for you to fight, Bonnie, so stop looking for one. You don’t need to grab at the first reason you think is plausible for you to stay, you wanting to stay is enough.”

“I’m not grabbing at reasons to stay. I want to do this, Kol,” she looked him right in the eye. “I spent so much time in Mystic Falls helping vampires and now I finally see an opportunity to help my own kind for once and I want to take it.”

Kol wore a scowl but he eventually and reluctantly nodded his head. “Fine,” he caved. “But one condition,” he said and held up his index finger and Bonnie nodded for him to go on. “Doing this is going to piss off not only my brother but Marcel as well, and all the vampires here are under his control so don’t go anywhere or do anything without telling me or Rebekah first, just so we can keep an eye on you, keep you safe.”

No way in hell was Kol going to trust Bonnie’s safety in the hands of these witches but he did trust Rebekah. Bonnie was the first true friend that his sister has had in a long time, he knew Rebekah would look after her.

“Okay,” Bonnie nodded her head, accepting his condition. “But don’t dictate what I can and can’t do.”

“Like you’d listen to me anyway,” the corner of his mouth tugged upwards with a smile. “I just want to keep you safe from Marcel. How I feel about you is reason enough for him to target you and I don’t want to give him another reason to come after you.”

Bonnie smiled and stretched up on her toes and wrapped her arms around Kol’s neck.

“I love you,” it slipped out before her brain could tell her mouth to stay shut. She groaned inwardly and felt him tense up against her, the hands that were barely touching her hips now held her tightly.

Nerves erupted and settled in the pit of her stomach, making her feel sick. She hadn’t meant to say it, but she still meant it and he knew it. She was about to drop her arms from around his neck when she felt his lips brush against her temple.

She wanting nothing more than to go back five minutes and stop herself from saying it, not because she didn’t mean it  -God knows nothing about her love for him has changed- but because of their earlier conversation and the understand that they had finally reached. She didn’t want to ruin their progress with a careless slip of the tongue, no matter how true it was.

Bonnie opened her mouth, ready with an apology but spoke before she could get her first syllable out.

“Don’t,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper and he pulled back just enough that he could meet her eyes. “Don’t apologise, don’t take it back.” One of his hands left her hip and he brought it up to her face, tracing his fingers over the soft skin of her cheek. “I can’t stand the thought of you ever regretting telling me you love me,” he said with a sad smile.

Bonnie stayed silent and stared into his eyes for a moment as she worked up the courage for her reply. He hands were on his chest and returned the joyless smile.

“It’s not that I regret what I said,” she started and unconsciously leaned into his touch. “I don’t. I still love you, Kol… so much, and nothing over the last three months have changed how I feel about you,” she paused for a moment before continuing. “But they have changed me and I’m not ready just yet to let go and be with you again. There is a lot that we both need to work through before we could go back to what we were.”

She wrapped her hand around his wrist and tried to decipher any kind of emotion on his face but he was keeping them hidden.

“We wouldn’t go back to what we were,” he said and placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her up a bit so their eyes met. “We’d be so much better,” he said with a faint smile, one she couldn’t help but return.

“I believe that,” she replied softly and trailed her fingers along his wrist. “I really do, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still need time, Kol…”

“Whatever you need,” he said and leant forward to press his lips to hers in a gentle and chaste kiss that meant everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ!!!   
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it took longer than I said (like, way, way, way longer), I just had a few personal things going on, got sick, started (and finished) a pastry course that kept me so busy and it was exhausting and full on (and now I’m starting another course that’ll be even more full one), and annoyed that quite a few things that I had come up with for this fic appeared in season 2 of The Originals (seriously, it was so annoying, I thought I was being all creative and shit coming up with these ideas and then my ideas pop up on the show!) so I spent some time deciding if I wanted to keep what I had or get rid of it and I’ve decided that I will keep them since my version had some differences and honestly, I like my versions better anyway.   
> Plus, this chapter was tedious to write and bored me and I changed it so many times and I’m still not happy with it so I really hope it wasn’t boring for you to read, and if you’re annoyed with what Bonnie wants to do, I’m with you but I can’t imagine her going to New Orleans and ignoring what’s happening to Davina and the witches, she sees a chance to help her own kind and wants to take it but next chapter may change her mind!  
> Any mistakes in this I apologise for (I cannot be bothered with this chapter anymore) and please leave a review with your thoughts.  
> Next chapter, Bonnie and Sophie meet for the first time! Also, Elijah returns and Kol tries to keep Bonnie out of the witch drama but she’s so incredibly stubborn.


	5. Oh, What A World We Were Born Into

Bonnie stopped mid-way down the staircase when she heard an unfamiliar female voice start cussing out Klaus like there was no tomorrow. She saw that Kol had just walked into the foyer and she pointed to the closed door muffling the voices with a confused yet interested expression.

“Sophie Deveraux,” he informed her when she reached the bottom of the stairs, “local French Quarter witch who Nik has temporarily kidnapped.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes and headed straight for the door. “And he wonders why people end up trying to kill him.”

“My brother the people pleaser,” Kol smirked and grabbed the door handle. “After you,” he gestured and his hand brushed her lower back when she walked passed him into the room where an angry brunette who looked to be in her mid-twenties was being interrogated by Klaus and Rebekah.

Klaus and Sophie looked up when they noticed Bonnie and Kol’s presence, and a wide, up-to-no-good grin appeared on Klaus face which immediately caused Bonnie to shake her head in the hybrid’s direction. He had no subtlety. “Bonnie! You’re here, wonderful. Sophie Deveraux, meet Bonnie Bennett.”

“Hi,” Sophie said slowly, eyes narrowed slightly as she seemed to size Bonnie up.

“Hey,” Bonnie gave a friendly smile to the other witch before taking a seat on one of the chairs across from the other girl, she was only a tiny bit surprised when Kol perched himself on the arm of her chair instead of finding his own. “So you’re the one who made life in Mystic Falls so much more pleasant by luring Klaus here? You’re even more self-sacrificing than I am.”

Sophie appeared to stifle a chuckle before answering. “That was my sister’s doing.”

The sister that Marcel had publically executed, Bonnie remembered being told.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s get to it, shall we? Rebekah and I do believe that there is more you have been neglecting to tell us,” Klaus said to Sophie and relaxed back in his chair, fingers entwined under his chin, “in particular, about Davina.”

“Yes, she seems to carry an unusual amount of hatred for her own kind,” Rebekah took over, her stare hard on the woman across from her. “So just how did the little witch come to be in Marcel’s possession?”

Bonnie cringed at her friend’s words. “She’s not an object, Bekah.”

“Fine… How did she come to be under Marcel’s _care_ ,” she reworded with an amused smile. “She seems awfully loyal to him, even helping to assist Marcel in the killing of a fellow witch.”

Sophie took a moment to think before she answered the two Originals. “There are a few in our Coven who are…well I guess you could call them extremists. They’re an old school faction of witches and Davina definitely has a rocky history with them.”

“And that means what, exactly?” Kol asked and stared expectantly at Sophie to elaborate.

“It means they tried to kill her,” Bonnie said, reading between the lines of Sophie’s words and guessing.

She was proven right when Sophie nodded her head. She heard Rebekah snort back a laugh.

“You witches…I swear, you try to attack and kill each other more often than vampires do!”

“Because it’s impossible for any witch to mind their own bloody business,” Kol said and Bonnie replied by whacking him in the arm. He looked down at her from his position on the arm of the chair, “you especially!”

“You’re a witch?” Sophie asked surprised before Bonnie could respond to Kol’s (obviously playful) jibe.

Bonnie nodded. “Well, they don’t keep me around because they care about me, as you can clearly tell,” she said and gave Kol an icy glare that he managed to melt with a simple smile.

“Oh, don’t pout, love.”

The brunette’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you say you were from?”

“No,” Klaus jumped in, “witch bonding time can come after you tell me more about this extremist faction among the witches.”

Sophie sighed and reluctantly turned her attention back to Klaus. “Like I said, they’re the older witches in the coven and most of them are actually dead now, they were killed by vampires, Marcel’s vampires, the night everything went to hell in a handbasket.”

“What happened?” Bonnie asked, intrigued.

“It was the night witches and vampires officially declared war on each other and unfortunately, with Davina’s powers, they are wining.”

“How is Davina so powerful?”

Granted that she herself couldn’t be much older than Davina, Bonnie couldn’t believe how powerful everyone had been making her out to be. Bonnie had to believe there was something boosting her powers, just like she had with the witch Spirits in the past and, as of late, Expression.

“Good question,” Klaus said, “and exactly the one I find myself wondering about often.”

“First of all you need to understand that with Ancestral magic, our connection with the Ancestors will fade over time and with that, our magic fades. So every now and then sacrifices need to be made to appease the Ancestors and in this circumstance the Elders of our coven believed that an extreme measure had to be taken to restore our connection,” Sophie explained, eyes glancing around the room at each of them. “It was in talks for months and I honestly thought they wouldn’t go through with it, it was far too extreme and not to mention crazy but they decided to. They wanted to perform a ritual that is known as _The Harvest_.”

“Never heard of it,” Klaus said and then looked to Kol who shook his head, not knowing of it either.

“Rituals like these witches tend to keep quiet. They’re not for outsider knowledge. The Elders flipped when I told Father Kieran about it, hoping he could convince them how crazy they were being but he couldn’t.”

“Father Kieran… Isn’t that the Priest at St. Anne’s?” Rebekah asked.

“Yeah, and the leader of the Human Faction of New Orleans,” she replied. “But he wasn’t going to let it go and they knew it so they distracted him the best way they could while they could keep planning for the Harvest… so they put a hex on his nephew a few weeks later the kid massacred the rest of the seminary students and then killed himself.”

Bonnie had just happened to have glanced in Klaus’ direction when Sophie finished speaking. He looked unnaturally shocked by this particular bit of information and she couldn’t understand why. She doubted it was the most gruesome and horrible thing he’s heard about.

“Kieran left town for a bit after that, but before he did he went to Marcel in a last attempt to stop the Harvest but by the time they showed up it was already too late, once the ritual starts it must be completed otherwise -”

Before Sophie could go any further, Klaus’ ringtone cut through the room.

“It’s Marcel,” he announced before answering it.

Bonnie glanced to Sophie while Klaus was chatting away to Marcel and couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable the witch appeared. It was easy to tell that none of this was easy for her to talk about. Being with her family in Fair Haven had taught Bonnie a thing or two about covens and it wasn’t easy to share secrets and private affairs with outsides, especially vampires.

“There are still werewolves in New Orleans?” Kol asked when Klaus hung up, having been listening in on their conversation.

“They were exiled to the Bayous years ago,” Sophie answered with a furrowed brow. She stared at Klaus. “Why is Marcel talking about werewolves?”

Klaus got to his feet. “Apparently some of his vampires were attacked, ripped to shreds in a way only a werewolf can. One survived but has a nasty bite and apparently I am at his beck and call,” he began to head to the door but turned back, “Sophie, we will continue this later.”

The witch scoffed. “Uh, you can’t just kidnap me for information then reschedule,” she argued but Klaus was already out the door. “Unbelievable. I’m out of here.”

Neither Kol nor Rebekah was particularly fussed whether Sophie stayed or left but Bonnie was far from done talking to the other witch.

“Hey,” Bonnie stopped Sophie just before she left the room. “How can I help?”

Sophie looked taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“I want to help with Davina and the vampires,” Bonnie elaborated and out of the corner of her eye she could see Kol watching the two of them intently, no doubt hanging onto their every word. “You need magic and I have it. Davina can’t sense my magic so Marcel will never know.”

“Why exactly do you want to help?”

“Let’s just say I have a long history of being used by vampires, and other times I was more than willing to side with them against my own kind,” she answered. “And more than once I stood idly by while vampires murdered witches.”

The other witch looked over to where Rebekah and Kol were talking quietly.

Bonnie followed Sophie’s line of sight and smiled softly. “I know it probably doesn’t sound like much when I’m here with the Originals of all people, but I truly want to help you against these vampires,” Bonnie paused before clarifying, “and by you, I do mean the saner of your coven but first I need to know about what’s happening. It can just be you and me, if that makes it better.”

The corner of Sophie’s mouth twitched up in quick smile. “I appreciate that. How about later on you meet me at Rousseau’s and we’ll talk some more?”

“Sounds good,” Bonnie grinned.

“Hey!” Sophie called out to the remaining vampires. “Now that your that brother has gone and disappeared one of you needs to give me a lift back to Rousseau’s because there is no way in hell I’m walking back.”

Bonnie heard Rebekah groan. “Fine,” she got up and stomped right passed the two witches and towards the front door, “let’s go.”

XXX

It was a couple hours later in the day when Bonnie’s phone rang. She was relieved to see Lucy’s name popping up on the screen. She hadn’t heard back from her cousin since she tried to call her the night she decided to stay in New Orleans a bit longer and a few other times since.

“Finally, I’ve been calling you for two days nearly.”

“Listen, I can count the hours of sleep I had on my vacation on one hand, I was catching up,” Lucy responded and Bonnie could hear her grin. “So, what did you need to talk about? Please tell me it’s regarding plane tickets home.”

“Actually, I was thinking about staying a little longer,” Bonnie said and braced herself for her cousin’s response.

Lucy let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this one, am I?”

“Doubtful,” Bonnie said with a light smile playing on her lips. “But if you’re up for another vacation…”

“Ha! That’d be one hell of a vacation, almost as good as Mystic Falls I’d imagine,” her voice soon dropped the playful sarcasm and took on one of more seriousness. “What’s going on there?”

“Oh, you know, power struggles between old friends, extreme sibling bickering, exes who can’t seem to be in the same room as each other without articles of clothing mysteriously disappearing, vampires ruling over witches …the usual,” Bonnie trailed off. “It’s a real mess here.”

“Yeah sounds like it,” Lucy replied flatly. “I think the two exes need to stay away from each other, though. Just sayin’.”

“I think you’d have fun here,” Bonnie said, ignoring her last comment.

Lucy gave a laugh. “Miami was fun… New Orleans is like a supernatural smack down and I’ve been to enough of those.”

“But Elijah’s going to be back soon and I bet he’d love to see you after being all cooped up in a coffin,” she grinned mischievously into the phone.

Bonnie still didn’t know exactly what happened between her cousin and the Original but she sure as hell loved teasing her about it.

“Y’know what, I think I will come down there, just to smack you upside the head,” Lucy replied and Bonnie laughed loudly. “At least I can control myself.”

“I wouldn’t even give it a week,” Bonnie quipped. “Hey, have you ever heard of something called The Harvest?” Bonnie asked her cousin as she took a seat near the window. “It’s some kind of ritual to do with Ancestral magic.”

“Honestly, I don’t know much about Ancestral magic, never had a need to,” Lucy answered. “Do I want to know what the Harvest is?”

“I don’t know, the explanation was interrupted,” Bonnie said, “but that ritual and this witch, Davina, seem to be at the centre of this war right now.”

“And who the hell is Davina?”

“A witch that is helping the vampires against the witches and apparently it comes back to this Harvest ritual thing and the witch elders of the New Orleans Coven,” she told Lucy. “I’m meeting with one of the witches, her name is Sophie, a bit later and she’s going to tell me more.”

“Okay well, let me know how that goes,” Lucy said and Bonnie could hear clanging in the background. “I’ll ask around about the Harvest, I know a few witches who specialise in rituals and ceremonies. I’ll see if they know anything and I’ll call you back if I get anything.”

“And I’ll let you know when Elijah’s back.”

She heard Lucy groan on the other line. “If coming out there will make up shut up about Elijah, I’ll be on the next flight. But seriously, I until I get back to you can you at least try to stay out of trouble?”

“I will honestly try but I make no promises.”

Lucy sighed. “I figured you’d say that.”

XXX

Sophie had gathered Agnes and a handful of the more powerful witches in the cemetery after she left the Mikaelson’s.

“What is it, Sophie?” Sabine asked as she arrived, being the last.

“We have a chance to find Davina,” Sophie said to them with a smile, the first real and true one she’s had since losing her sister. It was full of hope. “One that Marcel won’t see coming, or Davina.”

Agnes gave Sophie a curious glance. “How? As soon as we use magic she’ll know. There is no way around it, we’ve tried.”

Sophie took a moment, knowing she’d have to speak carefully. The coven wasn’t fond of outsiders and in their view Bonnie would be on the side of the Originals. “There is a witch in town, a powerful one,” she started, “She’s offered to help us and I think we should take her up on it. Davina knows when _we_ use magic but she doesn’t know when Bonnie uses.”

Agnes’ eyes narrowed on Sophie, not believing. “And this new and powerful witch just happens to stumble into the Quarter and offer us her help?”

Sophie braced herself for Agnes’ outburst. “She’s here because she’s allied with the Mikaelson’s.”

She figured allied with sounded better than friends with the oldest vampire family in the world.

“Excuse me?” Agnes looked calm, much calmer than Sophie expected which was so much worse in her opinion.

“She came here to help them find their brother and while she’s allied with them, she’s not against us. She wants to help and we’re running out of time and options.”

“What if this is a ploy orchestrated by Marcel, or by Klaus to take control of us from Marcel, to take Davina for himself?” Sabine added, seeming more open to the idea of outside help but not less cautious than their elder.

Sophie shook her head. “It isn’t. I believe she’s genuine.”

“She’s with the Mikaelson’s, Soph,” Sabine reminded her. “We can’t trust them or anyone allied with them.”

“What other choice do we have?” Sophie shot at them, her frustration rising. “We are running out of time. The Harvest needs to be completed. All she has to do is locate where Marcel is hiding Davina. We need to risk it.”

“No,” Agnes refused. “I’m not going to allow the Original’s the chance to get their hands on Davina.”

“Sophie’s got a point, Agnes,” Sabine said and tried not to roll her eyes at the shocked look from their elder. “We get her to the spell, we find Davina, we complete the Harvest Ritual and take back control of our city…or we wait longer and let this witch do the spell for the Originals and they find Davina before we do.” She sent a sly wink to Sophie who smiled thankfully at her friend.

“We have an opportunity here, Agnes,” Sophie tried again. “We can’t let this one go or we may never get another one.”

Agnes said nothing as she gave a hard stare to the two witches.

“Come on, Agnes,” Sabine jumped in again. “If we don’t complete the Harvest soon we really will be powerless against the vampires. Soph is right, we can’t let this slip from our fingers, not when we’re so close.”

The two of them could see Agnes was struggling to outright refuse because even she could see they were running out of time and options.

“Fine,” she gave in, the hard expression never leaving her face. “But if this should backfire on us for whatever reason, the two of you will be the ones to pay for it, remember that.” With that, Agnes turned and hurried out of the crypt, the others following close behind.

“Out of curiosity, how strong is this witch?” Sabine asked once the others had left.

“I don’t know,” Sophie answered. “But I don’t think the Originals would keep some novice witch around.”

“You know what she’s doing with them?”

Sophie shook her head. “I know she’s here to find their brother but from the looks of it, she’s sticking around for a bit more than that.”

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

“She seems close to them…and I think if we can get her on our side, we might be able to get the Originals, too. Well, two of them, at least,” she answered, thinking back to her morning with the Mikaelson’s and Bonnie interactions with them. She certainly seemed closer to Rebekah and Kol than she did with Klaus.

“I wouldn’t trust a Mikaelson as far as I could throw them,” Sabine responded with bite.

“Yeah, well, I’d take a Mikaelson on my side over one against me,” Sophie replied and said her goodbyes to her friend before heading back to Rousseau’s.

XXX

Bonnie and Kol walked into Rousseau’s later that afternoon and Bonnie immediately caught sight of Sophie in the kitchen towards the back of the restaurant. “Alright, you wait here,” she said to Kol and started to head in Sophie’s direction. “I promised her and it’d just be the two of us,” she looked back to Kol, “I can’t imagine why but you and your family make her uneasy.”

Kol sent her a wink. “Fine, I’ll just help myself to a drink or ten,” he replied and hopped over the bar to get a bottle of something.

“Seriously?” Sophie growled and stood at the entrance of the kitchen with her arms crossed and glaring at the Original.

“Just put in on my tab,” Kol said and made himself comfortable on one of the stools with his feet propped up on the bar.

Bonnie shook her head at Kol’s behaviour and joined Sophie in the kitchen area, closing the door behind her. “Sorry I brought him but I realised as I was about to leave that I had no idea where this place was.” She placed her bag on the table and opened it to pull out a candle. “Where do you keep your salt?”

“What are you doing?” Sophie asked with a raised brow.

“Silencing spell,” she said lighting the candle. “I’ve been told that there are ears everywhere in this city and I figure that this is not a conversation for unwanted ears… That and Kol is a notorious eavesdropper.”

Sophie held out a contain full of salt and Bonnie took a small handful before throwing it over the candle’s flame, creating a tiny explosion before the flame settled.

“You use traditional magic, then?”

Bonnie nodded. “Traditional and Spirit magic,” she said, leaving out her use of Expression. She’d learnt that having Expression magic wasn’t something you’d brag about to other witches. Even her own family was weary of her use of it.

“How long have you been practising?”

“Believe it or not, but only for about two and a half years,” she answered and noted Sophie’s look of surprise. “I had no idea I was a witch until my powers manifested in ways I and my family couldn’t ignore… though I honestly thought I was physic.”

“No offense, but I would have thought that the Originals would keep a more experienced witch around.”

Bonnie arched a brow. “Who says I’m not experienced?”

Sophie returned the look. “With just two years of magic?”

“A lot can happen in two years,” Bonnie responded, her tone short and defensive. “You think here is bad then you should come to my hometown sometime. Mystic Falls is a beacon for the supernatural and being the only witch in town surrounded by demanding vampires acting like my magic is their magic I didn’t exactly have the chance to learn the way others do. I did spells way above my level or people I loved would die… people I loved did die… and by the way, the do not ‘keep me around’, Rebekah is my friend, Klaus is a pain in my ass, and Kol’s my…was my boyfriend.”

Bonnie finally took a breath and realised she had been rambling a bit. “Sorry, I can get a bit defensive about my powers. Just trust that even though I haven’t been doing this long, I’m no novice witch because you’re right, Klaus wouldn’t bother with me if I wasn’t powerful and I am.”

“Well, like I said I meant no offence,” Sophie raised her hands in surrender for a few seconds before dropping them back to her side. “If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t your family tell you what you were, did something happen?”

Bonnie leant back and rest against the table. “When I was three magic killed my mother and because of that my dad wanted nothing to do with any of it, not the magic or the family and my Grams reluctantly agreed because it was the only way  he’d let her stay in my life. The rest of my mother’s family kept away after that. I didn’t really meet them until a couple of months ago,” Bonnie paused and subconsciously started to twist her ring around her finger. “I love my dad but I can’t help but resent him for keeping it from me. More than half the time I’ve had no idea what I’ve been doing and over exerting myself with spells far beyond my level and it has majorly sucked.”

Sophie nodded her head, getting in some way what Bonnie meant. “I was the opposite,” she replied and folded her arms, “I resent my parents for throwing me and my sister straight into magic as soon as we were able. They were strict about it and our practice of it leaving little room for anything else. I was out of there as soon as I turned eighteen. I needed some freedom away from it and even when I got back around a year ago I still wasn’t ready to settle back into magic. I wanted nothing to do with it,” she continued, her eyes dropping to the floor for a few moments before meeting Bonnie’s once again. “It wasn’t until Jane-Ann told me that the Elders had decided to go through with the Harvest that I got back into it, I didn’t want them to go through with it.”

“I heard about what happened to your sister,” Bonnie said quietly. “I’m sorry that happened.”

Sophie gave her a small smile. “I just don’t want to let her death be for nothing.”

“Can you tell me more about the Harvest? You said that it was a sacrifice to restore your connection to your ancestors and that Marcel tried to stop it but was too late,” Bonnie reminded her.

Sophie pointed to the closed door. “Seeing as he’s already here, does he want to hear this so I don’t have to get kidnapped again later on to repeat it to his brother?”

Bonnie nodded and picked up the candle and followed Sophie out of the kitchen. The older witch took a seat at one of the tables and Bonnie motioned Kol to follow. She put the candle in the middle so their conversation would continue to be shielded.

“The Harvest is a ritual sacrifice,” Sophie started and leant her elbows atop of the table. “It’s all about our belief in our magic and our ancestors, and our offering must reflect that our faith in them.”

“I take that the offering wasn’t some sacred animal or a fruit basket?” Kol guessed.

“The offering was four of the younger witches in our community, one of them being Davina…” Sophie stopped and looked down at the table. “Another was my niece, Monique… The girls are put to sleep and for the duration of the ritual, from the ceremony to the Reaping, they are in some kind of limbo.”

“The Reaping?”

“The Reaping comes about a year after the ceremony, it’s when the girls are supposedly resurrected and our connection to the ancestors restored.”

“So the ceremony Marcel interrupted…”

Sophie nodded. “They lied to the girls,” she said. “They said it was a simple cut on the palm and they’d fall into a sleep like state but it wasn’t like that. Those girls were slaughtered. Marcel turned up after the second girl was killed and among the chaos Monique had been sacrificed, too.

“And as to your earlier question of how Davina got so powerful, after each girl was sacrificed her power was transferred to the next and then it was to be passed on into the earth to our ancestors but because the ritual was stopped before all the girls were sacrificed Davina absorbed all that magic. I _saw_ the power transfer from my niece to Davina before Marcel disappeared with her.”

“So what happens now?” Bonnie wondered. “The ritual was interrupted and Davina absorbed the power.”

“The ritual is not complete until the Reaping, where the girls are resurrected and our power restored but if the ceremony isn’t completed by the Reaping, the girls won’t be resurrected and our magic will disappear and we will be powerless against the vampires.”

“You actually want to complete this ritual, kill Davina?”

Sophie had a look of determination on her face but there was also regret masked underneath it. “There isn’t much of a choice. If we don’t complete it then we lose our magic for good and Monique and those other two girls are dead for real with no chance of bringing them back.”

“How can you be sure that the girls will be resurrected once the ritual is completed?”

Sophie’s eyes meet Bonnie’s. “Because I have to believe that it will, for Monique’s sake and for my sister. My sister died for this…I can’t let that be for nothing.”

Kol’s phone buzzed on the table at that moment. He picked it up and turned the screen for Bonnie to see. It was a message from Rebekah telling Kol that Elijah had returned and with new information.

“Well, I think we’re done here,” Kol said and pushed back his chair, eager to get back and see his brother.

“Do you mind if I come by again tomorrow?” Bonnie asked and leant over to pick her bag up off the floor. “I still have more questions.”

Sophie nodded and stood up the same time as Bonnie. “Sure, come by any time after noon.”

XXX

“You’re not still going to help them, are you?” Kol asked as soon as the two of them got in the privacy of the car.

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and pulled the seat belt around her. “I just want to know more,” she said, still believing there was more not being said about this whole thing. “But I don’t know, obviously I don’t want them to lose their magic and be killed by the vampires.”

One thing Bonnie did know, was that  there was no way in Hell she was going to let Klaus get his hands on Davina.

“They want to sacrifice a young girl, Bonnie,” he reminded her. “While it’s not the most horrifying thing I’ve heard of I find it hard to believe you’re okay with that,” he said. “You might help them against Marcel but you’re not going to help them find Davina, I know you.”

“Maybe there could be another way without having to kill Davina,” Bonnie wondered. “Elijah’s been talking with Davina, hasn’t he?” Kol nodded his head and took a turn. “With any luck he’s got some good news.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Bonnie sucked in her bottom lip before she answered. “Then I leave it be and stay out of it.”

“You’d be okay with that?”

“Of course not,” she said, “I’m not going to be okay with knowing a girl is going to be sacrificed but this Coven’s business isn’t mine.”

Bonnie thought back to things Joanna had said to her about Covens, how preserving their magic came above everything and they will do whatever it takes. She couldn’t involve herself too much in their affairs; Jo had warned her that it wouldn’t end well for her if she did.

Kol turned his attention to Bonnie when he parked the car out the front of the mansion.  His hand covered hers that were resting on her lap. “You know you don’t need to do anything, you don’t owe them anything. You don’t even know them and believe me they wouldn’t go out of their way to help you.”

“I know,” Bonnie said and let her other hand rest atop of Kol’s. “It’s more for me,” she lifted her eyes to stare at him, “After what I’ve done to other witches, I feel like I owe it.”

Kol sighed and squeezed her hand. “What happened to those twelve witches wasn’t you’re fault,” he told her. “Silas was manipulating you.”

“But still,” she frowned and looked at their joined hands, “their death was because of Expression and if I can at least use that magic to help other witches then maybe I can convince myself.”

He lifted her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “If that’s what’s going to make you feel better then I’ll help any way I can.”

“Thank you,” she said gently and held onto his hands for a little longer. “We should get inside, Elijah’s probably waiting.”

Bonnie couldn’t help but smile at the spark of excitement that flashed in Kol’s eye at the mention of his brother.

The Original got out of the car and sped around to the passenger side to open the door for Bonnie. They got inside the house and Kol stood, listening to where his siblings currently were.

“They are in Elijah’s study,” Kol said and lead Bonnie in that direction.

“About time you two got back,” Rebekah was the first to speak as the two walked into the room, she and Klaus were sitting in chairs in front of the desk and Bonnie immediately saw Elijah standing by the window.

There was a smile playing on the older Mikaelson’s face when he looked over at Kol and Bonnie.

“Welcome back, brother,” Kol grinned and Elijah came over to them and embraced his younger brother as Bonnie watched on with a smile. She was happy she was able to help reunite Kol with his brother.

“Bonnie,” Elijah acknowledged her over Kol’s shoulder with kind eyes when he pulled back.

“It’s good to see you, Elijah,” she said and accepted his warm embrace. “Lucy says ‘hey’,” she whispered with cheek just as he released her.

He responded with a playful scowl and gave her a peck on the cheek.

“How did the meeting with Sophie go?” Rebekah asked as Bonnie and Kol settled into the room, Kol leaning against the wall and Bonnie accepting Rebekah’s gesture to perch herself on the arm of the chair. “Elijah’s learnt from Davina that Sophie’s niece was sacrificed in the Harvest.”

“Yeah, she told us that,” Bonnie said, “she also told us that Davina needs to be sacrificed as well in order for the Harvest to be completed and to ensure that they don’t lose their magic for good.”

Elijah nodded. “Yes, Marcel intends to keep Davina hidden until the Harvest has passed and the witches lose their magic and they are no longer a threat to her.”

“But Davina is going to be resurrected,” Kol spoke up.

“Sophie said the girls had been prepared for months, they knew they would be dying and later be reborn or whatever,” Bonnie added.

“According to Davina,” Elijah started,” the girls had been lied to. While they knew they would ultimately be put to sleep, they were led to believe it would be by a simple cut on the palm, not their throats being slit. Davina worries that if the witches lie about that, then perhaps they could be lying about them being resurrected. She is not willing to risk her life on a witch’s fable or for the people who intended to slaughter her.”

“So what happens when the Harvest passes and the witches lose their magic?” Bonnie asked, glancing at each Original, “will they be left alone or will Marcel have them killed?”

None seemed to have an answer to that until Elijah spoke. “As long as they no longer remain a threat, I don’t see why Marcel would kill them.”

“Doesn’t really seem fair, though,” Bonnie mumbled. “They lose their magic and the vampires run rampant.”

“You seem to forget that you are in a room full of vampires, Bonnie,” Klaus spoke for the first time since Bonnie and Kol arrived.

“And you seemed to have forgotten that I’m not here to help vampires control witches,” Bonnie shot back at the hybrid, “I came here to help you find Elijah and I’ve done that and now I want to help the witches.”

“Well, go one then. Go tell the witches were Davina is… maybe they’ll even let you slit her throat yourself, you can become an honorary member of the New Orleans Coven.”

Bonnie gave a sour laugh. “Oh please, don’t act like you give a damn about her,” she glared at him, “you just want her power all for yourself.”

Klaus smirked and leant back in his chair, not denying Bonnie’s accusation.

Elijah stared at Bonnie with a curious gaze. “You believe that the Harvest ritual is real?”

“I believe that Sophie does,” Bonnie answered and met Elijah’s eyes, “and she doesn’t strike me as someone who believes just out of faith. She said she saw the magic leaving her niece and go into Davina. Something about it is real.”

“Sophie’s judgement in this matter is clouded,” Kol said and crossed his arms over his chest, “she lost her niece in this ritual and if this is her only chance to see her again then she’s going to do it no matter what, whether she truly believes in it or not.”

Elijah nodded his agreement with his brother. “Which is why I believe we need to tread carefully with Sophie Deveraux,” he said and placed his hand on the back of the chair in front of him, “There is absolutely nothing left for her to lose and because of that, she is far more dangerous than any of us can anticipate.”

Bonnie still had all intentions of meeting with Sophie the next day.

XXX

“Hey, Marcel,” Diego called out to his leader and friend when he found him at the bar, “you asked me to keep an eye on Klaus’s witch and I got her going into the Rousseau’s with Klaus’ brother earlier this afternoon.”

“So?” Marcel questioned, not really concerned where the witch and Kol decide to eat and drink.

“They were in there a long time when the place was supposed to be closed and I do know that Sophie was there when they went in.”

Marcel sat up straighter, his attention officially sparked. He had his suspicions that Sophie Deveraux was somehow involved in Original drama since it was supposedly Jane-Anne that brought Klaus to town.

“What did you hear?” Marcel asked and Diego shook his head.

“Nothing, man, not a damn thing,” he answered. “I was standing right outside the back door and couldn’t hear a thing.”

“She must have done some kind of spell,” Marcel theorised and clenched his fist on the bar top. “If it were Sophie then Davina would have sensed it and told me right away. It must have been Klaus’ witch.”

“Having a witch in town you have no control over isn’t a good thing, Marcel, especially one that has sided with the Originals,” Diego said, his voice low. “You said to Klaus so long as she kept out of your business you’d leave her be. Well, now she’s in your business.”

Marcel rolled his tongue over his teeth and nodded. “Take a couple of guys and track down Agnes. I think she and I need to have a bit of a chat about this new arrival, maybe the two of us can come to some sort of agreement.”

Diego scoffed and leant against the bar. “You think that crazy bitch will help?”

Marcel’s lips curved up in a smirk. “She will when I offer to be a bit more lenient with her witches in exchange for an outsider. Agnes will hand her over on a silver platter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that storylines won’t be 100% like they were on the show, that being because I don’t want this to be a re-tell of The Originals plus Bonnie minus baby and also because I don’t remember everything that’s happened and I’m too lazy to rewatch.   
> But Yay Elijah’s back! I just love Elijah (he’s a total Kennett stan!) and I love writing Kol and Elijah scenes so expect many more!  
> Thanks for reading this chapter, bless you for getting through it and please leave a review!  
> I’d be interested in your opinions here, what do guys think Bonnie’s view on the Harvest would be? I’m a bit on the fence… In one instance I think she’d be utterly against it because of the whole throat slitting thing but in another instance (and given some of the things she’s taken part in/looked the other way from in the show) I don’t think she’d be completely horrified and against it as I originally wrote her to be. I feel like she’d see it more like Sophie’s way (post-Monique being sacrificed), something that’s not right but needs to be done.   
> I also received a review with concerns about a weak Bonnie in compared to Klaus and in a powered down position in compared to the Originals… I just would like to say, don’t worry! BonBon’s still got Expression along with her usual magic so she’s a force to be wreckin’ with and she’s certainly not going to cower down around Klaus or any of the Mikaelson’s which is going to make for some tense encounters.  
> Next chapter, Bonnie/Sophie bonding, Kol loses his shit (like loses his shit), and a rather sweet Bonnie/Klaus moment plus sooooooooo much more! It’s gonna be a big one!  
> (I’m aiming to update in another 2 weeks but if I don’t I’m so sorry, I’m starting uni tomorrow and I’m so nervous and I’ll have a bit going on but I will try, I’ll promise. It helps that next chapter is a fun one and this Kolvina in the Originals is making me determined to keep Kennett alive)  
> I really need to stop with the long ANs…I just have a lot to say I’m sorry I’ll shut up now.


	6. A New Day, A New Enemy

Bonnie was out the door by nine o’clock the next morning. She knew if she waited any longer to sneak out she’d run the risk of being stopped by one of three Originals. She didn’t think it’d bother Klaus all too much if she continued to keep meeting with Sophie, however, she did know he would mind if she borrowed his car which is exactly why she did.

She found her way back to Rousseau’s relatively easily and let herself in through the back door which Sophie had said she would leave open for her.

“Sophie?” Bonnie called out for the witch who soon enough appeared through the kitchen doors with her hands full of boxes.

“Hey,” she greeted with an arm full of boxes which she placed onto the table. “Didn’t think you’d end up showing after yesterday.”

“At the moment they don’t know I’m here,” Bonnie said and followed Sophie back out into the restaurant/bar area. “They don’t trust you,” she added, not seeing any reason to hide that fact from Sophie. She probably already knew it.

Sophie scoffed. “Believe me, the feeling is very mutual.”

“Why did you and your sister bring Klaus here?” Bonnie asked and took a seat on one of the bar stools while Sophie started to take bottles out of boxes and placing them in various spots around the bar. “This isn’t just about the war with the vampires, is it?”

Sophie didn’t answer and continued to silently unpack the bottles.

“If you honestly though that bringing Klaus here to help with a war against someone he sired in a city he once ran or whatever, without any kind of leverage then that was a pretty dumb move on your sister’s part,” she said then took on a different tone, a gentler one. “This is about the Harvest and your niece, isn’t it?”

The French Quarter witch stilled after she put away the final bottle.

“Why would your sister – why would any witch give up her life just to lure Klaus here on a whim that he’ll help them?”

“Okay, fine,” Sophie started and turned around to face Bonnie, “we didn’t want Klaus here because of what’s going on with us and the vampires. I knew eventually that Klaus would meet Davina and maybe with some kind of alliance then he’d tell us where Marcel was keeping her and in return we would help him take back the vampire faction of the Quarter from Marcel.”

“The only intention that Klaus has with Davina is to use her power for himself,” Bonnie pointed out on of many flaws of Sophie’s plan. “He wouldn’t hand her over to you so you can get more power. He’d rather have Davina’s power all to himself.”

“And then we would explain to him that after a certain point Davina is going to lose all of her power, as would the rest of us,” Sophie continued. “He’d have to give her to us and then in return we would use our power to help him.”

Bonnie could laugh at the French Quarter Coven’s ignorance in regards to Klaus.

“You’d indebt yourself to Klaus forever, you realise that? He’s not going to let that go,” Bonnie told her. “He’d get you all killed eventually. Are the rest of your Coven is okay with this?”

“If it means we get to keep our power and get our girls back then they better learn to deal with it,” Sophie replied and Bonnie took that as a firm ‘no’. “I’ll help the Originals just myself if I have to.”

Bonnie breathed in deeply, she admired Sophie’s spirit and determination but she didn’t think she had really thought all this out, she was just so focused on getting her niece back. It just wouldn’t work out for her or her people in the long run. Klaus didn’t care about a witch’s life and if he had a full coven of them at his disposal… Bonnie would hate to think of the terror he would reign down.

“Or we can skip all the Klaus bullshit and you can locate her for us.” There was a hint of hope in her light tone.

This was the moment Bonnie dreaded about meeting with Sophie today.

“Look, I don’t want to meddle in your Coven’s business,” Bonnie said and crossed her arms atop the bar, “so I’m not going to involve myself in this Harvest thing. Whatever you are going to do in regards to Davina is your own business and do what you will about it, but I’m not going to find her for you.”

“You said you wanted to help,” Sophie responded and Bonnie completely understood and accepted the frustration that rose in her voice.

“And I do,” Bonnie replied, giving the other girl an apologetic look, “and I will. I’m going to help you against the vampires and I’ll help make sure Klaus isn’t too much of a bother to your Coven but I can’t have anything to do with this Harvest Ritual, I’m sorry.”

Bonnie had already involved herself with the sacrifice of witches once too many. After her role in the death of those twelve witches, she couldn’t bring herself to help in the sacrifice of another witch.

“If you want to pitch your alliance to Klaus, go for it but trust me, you’d rather be powerless than be in Klaus’ debt. I’ve seen what happens to the witches he’s had working for him and none of them are alive today.”

Sophie took a step forward and placed her hands on top of the counter. “To get someone you love back; wouldn’t you do anything it took?”

Bonnie froze and her eyes drifted down to the bar top. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to keep those she loved safe. She was more than guilty of doing whatever it took to ensure the safety of the ones she loved… She knew exactly where Sophie was coming from and why she’d never been talked out of it.

“I would,” she replied softly then sighed. “I’ll do what I can with Klaus, but I make no promises other than he will screw you over eventually.”

“A risk I’m willing to take.”

“I hope so,” Bonnie muttered under her breath as she jumped down from the stool. “I better get going before Kol has a coronary when he realises I’m gone.”

“Can I ask a question about that?” Sophie asked before Bonnie grabbed her bag.

Bonnie shrugged and nodded. “I guess.”

“Granted I don’t know him all that well and I can only go on from my encounters with him,” she said slowly, like she was choosing her words carefully, “and I don’t know you well either… but you and him…He’ so volatile and violent but you… you seem so nice, so caring. I just have a hard time picturing to two of you.”

“I know,” Bonnie said with an understanding nod of the head. “He’s not exactly the one I pictured on falling in love with that’s for sure, but I did and I don’t regret it. And he’s not so bad,” Bonnie added, smiling lightly. “I think what he’s been through with his family over the years has gotten to him but he can also be sweet and he’s protective, and he cares a lot for me. He’s probably the only one other than my family to see the worse of me and not judge me for it or try to make me feel like crap or like I’m crazy.”

Sophie gave a quick smile. “I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it but I know what that’s like,” she replied. “I was in the same boat a few months ago with a vampire. Everything around me was just so crazy but he managed to ground me, even just for a little while.”

“What happened between the two of you?” Bonnie asked, interested in the fact that Sophie was involved with a vampire, even more so when considering how to two factions get along now.

Sophie waved her hand dismissively. “Didn’t work out,” she said. “It wasn’t serious or anything, it was just fun at the time, and just what I needed. Anyway, you should get going being an Original shows up and drinks all my stock.”

“If you ever do need help, you can come to me. I’ll try with whatever it is.”

“As long as it’s not the Davina related?”

Bonnie gave her an apologetic smile. “I really am sorry, Sophie, but I just can’t bring myself to be a part of that.”

Sophie nodded and pushed some hair out of her eyes. “I understand. It sucks, but I get it. I wish I wasn’t a part of it either.”

Bonnie picked up her bag and took a few steps backwards towards the door. “I really hope it all works out for you.”

Sophie gave a small wave as Bonnie stepped out of the restaurant.

Bonnie gasped and jumped when she sat Kol leaning on the wall next to the door. “Jesus Christ, Kol,” she grumbled, her hand on her chest to steady the heart rate that just spiked. “What are you doing here?”

“Nik sent me to catch a car thief,” he replied with a slight smirk and held out his hands for the keys.

“I like his the best,” Bonnie shrugged and pushed passed him.

“I might’ve be a bit jealous by the statement if I didn’t know how sweet and caring you find me,” he followed along next to her with a teasing grin.

Bonnie stopped suddenly and spun around to glare at him. “You were listening in to my conversation!”

“My ears were burning,” his replied with feigned innocence but his grin returned when Bonnie hit his shoulder with her palm then turned and kept walking towards the car. “Though I have to say, I’m not comfortable with Sophie Deveraux thinking anything but bad thoughts about me,” he said and jogged a bit to catch up with her. “You’re ruining my carefully crafted reputation and I do not appreciate it.”

Bonnie tossed a scowl over her shoulder and got in the driver’s seat of the car, locking the car again just as Kol tried to open the passenger door. She started the car and wound down the window to give him a sweet smile. “I’ll see you back at home.”

She blew him a kiss and wound the window back up and drove away with a laugh.

XXX

He had beaten her home.

On foot, he had actually gotten back before she did, in a car.

He was waiting for her, sitting on the steps in front of the door with a victorious smile on his face.

“You drive like an old lady, darling,” he called out when she got out of the car. “I could walk faster than you drive, honestly.”

Bonnie glared as she walked up the steps, right passed him and opened the front door. She walked into the main sitting room, eye brows raised when she saw Rebekah on the floor, scrubbing a dark red patch on the carpet.

“Do I want to know what happened here?” she asked, looking around.

“Probably not,” Rebekah answered and tossed the brush in the bucket, making drops of water splash out and onto the floor. “Just Klaus trying to extend his version of an olive branch to Elijah.”

“No hard feelings between the two of them, then?” Bonnie sat on the arm of the couch. “Elijah seems unnaturally calm about what Klaus did.”

Rebekah shrugged and pushed herself up off the floor and to her feet. “That’s my brother for you. Eventually forgives Klaus for everything so why even bother being mad at all?”

“And what about you?” Bonnie asked quietly. “Are you still planning on leaving now that Elijah’s back?”

“There’s no reason for me to stay,” she answered. “This city is a curse and my family already are cursed. No good can come from us being here so I’m planning on getting out before it all goes inevitably wrong,” walking towards Bonnie she placed a hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps you should consider the same.”

Bonnie’s brow furrowed in confusion as Rebekah walked out of the room. Just the other night Rebekah was hoping that Bonnie was sticking around and now she’s telling her she should go?

Only a minute later and Klaus stormed into the room. “Where are my keys?” he demanded and Bonnie nearly laughed.

“Oh, relax,” she replied and dangled the keys from her index finger in front of his face. “It’s safe, no scratches or flat tires.”

“It better not have,” he grumbled and snatched the keys from her and pocketed them. “I’m assuming you went to see Sophie.”

Bonnie nodded. “You’ll probably be hearing from her soon, I imagine. She may have an offer for you.”

He didn’t look surprised to hear that. Bonnie assumed that Klaus already had a feeling about what Sophie was intending.

“Regardless of what my siblings think I believe you should keep in contact with her, if you get an in with the witches then we may gain an advantage in taking this city back.”

“Oh no, we’re not scheming,” Bonnie raised her hand between them and back away from the hybrid and towards the hallway. “I made a promise to stay out of trouble.”

“That’ll be the day,” she heard Kol say as he walked passed them, Bonnie’s glare following him.

She looked back to Klaus and pointed to him. “I mean it, leave me out of your schemes!”

He shrugged. “Very well, don’t take my car again.”

“You will at least be careful around Sophie Deveraux, yes?” this time it was Elijah’s voice the spoke as he appeared from seemingly out of nowhere.

“Yes, Elijah, I will be careful around her,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. “Though, I honestly think she’s the last person you need to worry about. She just wants her niece back.”

“Nevertheless, she is the one who has nothing to lose yet the most to gain in this city,” he said, standing against the door frame looking as noble as ever. “We cannot put our trust in her. She will do or say anything to get her niece back.”

A frown appeared on Bonnie’s face. “I don’t think so,” she replied. “I told her this morning that I didn’t want anything to do with the Harvest or finding Davina for them and she took that pretty well, at least when considering what’s at stake for her.”

Elijah’s mouth tugged in a smile as he pushed off the door frame and took a few slow steps towards her. “Your trust and faith in people is admirable, Bonnie,” he said and his smile soon faded, “but it has led you down the path of betrayal many times before.” Bonnie’s eyes flickered down before meeting Elijah’s, she saw his concern but she also saw warmth. “None of us wish to see you hurt, least of all because you put your faith and trust in the wrong person.”

It was a bit of a sore spot that Elijah had just hit but she knew it had not been his intention to hurt her by bringing up her moments of naïveté by trusting the wrong people. People like Shane, who had led her down more than just a path of betrayal but one of destruction, death and pain of the people she loved and others she didn’t even know.

“I’m being careful,” she promised him, “and in the future I’ll let you all know before sneaking out. I just really wanted to talk to her alone, needless to say you all make her a bit uneasy.”

Elijah smiled and cupped her cheek affectionately. “Now, will you please answer your cousin’s phone calls so she can stop ringing me?”

Bonnie gave a guilty grin. “I figured neither of you would call the other without a reason to do so, so I gave her a reason,” her grin widened, “though when you think about it, she could have called Kol if she needed me so she clearly _wanted_ to talk to you.”

“Sneaky,” he chided but his smile didn’t fade. “Speaking of the witches, I am on my way to see Davina,” he told her and straightened up. “I did promise her that I would stop by and provide her with a spell from my mother’s Grimoire to help her practice her magic.”

“That’s nice and I’m not going to point out that you never offered me spells from your mother’s Grimoire,” she responded in a mockingly blasé manner. “I’m not also going to point out that I’m a little offended by that.”

“Well, if you’re not going to point them out then I shall be on my way,” before he turned to leave, he slid out the old book that she had not yet noticed that he had tucked under his arm with a smile. “Have fun,” he gave her a kiss to the forehead before taking his leave.

She was more than a little excited to be holding Esther’s Grimoire in her hands. While Esther may not have been the world’s best mother or even person, it couldn’t be denied that she was a powerful and extraordinary witch and to look through her Grimoire would be an experience for any witch.

She took a seat on the couch and opened the book to reveal the tattered and delicate pages. She had no idea how long she spent going over and over the spells and entries of the Grimoire, her hands travelling over the pages in awe.

“A lot of the contents of that Grimoire can be attributed to your ancestor, Ayana,” a voice said from next to her, making her jump in her seat.

“Stop doing that!” she scolded Kol who gave her a gentle smile.

“My mother was a great witch,” he said and managed to pry the book from her hands to look through it himself, handling the fragile book with great care. “But she owed a lot of her knowledge to Ayana. As did I,” he closed the book and handed it back to Bonnie who took it and let it rest on her lap.

“You practiced magic?” she asked, amazed.

He nodded. “The only one of my siblings to do so, I was quite talented.” He spoke the last bit with confidence that bordered on cockiness.

Typical Kol, she thought with a fondness towards the vampire.

“You never told me that before,” she said and repositioned herself on the couch to face him.

He gave a shrug. “It isn’t something I talk about,” he said, “it was hard when I lost the ability to practice it and while I adjusted to my life without it I never forgot what it was like…” he trailed off, “to do a spell, feel that power running through your veins.”

“I suppose it explains why you know so much about magic and witches,” she said and let her elbow rest on the back of the couch. “About how you knew so much about Silas.”

“I tried to stay connected to witches wherever I was,” he told her. “Even if I couldn’t practice I could still learn about the types of magic and what witches were doing with it as time went on. I even taught other witches a thing or two.”

“That’s why Klaus looked to you when Sophie mentioned the Harvest,” she said and he nodded.

“I spent a lot of years travelling and learning as much as I could but being indisposed in a coffin for a hundred years has kept me out of the loop on witch matters.”

“Why don’t you involve yourself with these witches?” she asked curiously and something akin to guilt flashed across his face for a quick second.

“I have a past with the witches here, one that did not end pleasantly for them.”

“What happened?”

“I worked closely with two witches but thanks to my brother, they met a rather unfortunate end but I suppose I hold some of the blame, too. I never did try to save them.”

Bonnie was amazed that there was still so much about Kol she didn’t know and she knew that the main reason for that was him not wanting to share some of his darker moments with her. She wished that he would, not because she truly wanted to know what he had done in the past but because she felt it would let her get to know him better and maybe they could connect on another level. He'd already seen her at her worst but she hadn’t yet gotten to see him at his. She’d seen a darker side of him, sure, but not his worst. Of course, she knew his past was darker than she could imagine so there was that part of her that questioned whether or not she’d be able to handle that.

They were interrupted when her phone buzzed in her pocket with a text message.

“It’s from Sophie,” she said out loud when she pulled it out of her bag and looked at the screen.

_The witches have asked to meet you. If you’re up for it meet me out front of Rousseau’s in an hour. Please don’t bring any Originals._

She showed Kol the message and he scoffed at the last part.

“There is no way you’re going to meet those crazies on your own,” he objected as he handed her phone back to her.

“Kol,” she sighed and ran a hand across her forehead.

“No,” he repeated, shaking his head.

She dropped her hand and looked him straight in the eye. “Why don’t you trust me?”

He looked at her like she had grown another head. “I do trust you,” he replied quickly and reached over to take her hand. “Bonnie, I trust you more than anyone. It’s _them_ I don’t trust and neither should you.”

“Of course I don’t trust them but I’m still going and I’m going alone.”

Kol’s hand tenderly touched her face. “You don’t need to make up for what happened to those witches back in Mystic Falls by putting yourself in harm’s way for these ones.”

“I know I don’t,” she replied, leaning into his touch. “But like I said yesterday, If I can help them with this then maybe I can stop holding onto all that guilt for the part I played.”

He released a sigh and reluctantly gave in. “Okay,” he said, “Just promise me that if something’s wrong you’ll call one of us. Call one of us and we’ll come get you right away.”

She nodded her head and leant in, pressing her lips against his cheek. “Promise.”

XXX

As planned, Bonnie went to meet Sophie outside of Rousseau’s, the other witch waiting outside the establishment by the time Bonnie arrived.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” she said when Bonnie approached her. “I won’t lie; this offer came as a bit of a shock to me.”

“You and me both,” Bonnie replied and Sophie motioned her to follow as she led them towards Lafayette Cemetery.

“I should probably warn you,” Sophie started as they walked down the street, “the Coven can be a bit weird and intense. Most of them are fine, but there are a few like Agnes who are kind of extreme in their ways.”

“You don’t sound real pleased about this,” Bonnie noted as they crossed the street.

“No, it’s not that,” Sophie assured her but Bonnie could hear the doubt in her voice, “I’ve been saying for a while that we need to start embracing outside witches from other covens, there is always so much we can learn from each other but Agnes is completely against it and it just seems weird for her to come around so soon.”

“Maybe she sees the benefit an outsider can be in these situations,” Bonnie suggested. “You guys are in between a rock and a hard place and maybe she sees that letting me in would be better than remaining this way under Marcel’s thumb.”

Sophie nodded but Bonnie could see that she was still unsure and uneasy so she grabbed her arm to stop her.

“But if you aren’t comfortable with this, I won’t go.”

The other girl shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, letting out a heavy sigh. “Just keep your eyes open, okay? They have no reason to harm you, you’ve done nothing but offer your help but still, please just be cautious around Agnes,” she warned Bonnie, “she may come across as kind but she can be vicious.”

“She’s the one that put that curse on the seminary kid just to distract the Priest, right?” Sophie nodded and Bonnie pursed her lips. “Okay, I will keep my guard up and tread carefully with her but like you said, she has no reason to harm me.”

“Let’s hope,” Sophie said quietly enough that Bonnie didn’t hear it and continued to lead the way to the Coven’s haven.

“So, this vampire you mentioned earlier…” Bonnie started, “Care to share?”

Sophie scoffed. “Would you believe me if I told you it was Marcel?”

Bonnie felt her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

Sophie gave a short laugh and nodded. “Yup.”

“Damn,” Bonnie giggled. “I’ve only met him once personally, he’s cute.”

“Yeah, back when things weren’t so tense between the witches and the vampires, we got along pretty well.”

“Clearly,” Bonnie sniggered. “What happened?”

“The Harvest,” she answered tiredly. “Like I said, that’s when everything went to Hell. It’s the reason we’re at war with the vampires, the reason I lost my niece, a number of friends, and eventually sister.”

“And you think finishing it is the only way to clean up the mess?”

The brunette witch shrugged. “It’ll restore our connection to the Ancestors and restore our power, that’ll make a fight with the vampires a bit more even, it’ll hopefully bring my niece back and then Jane-Anne’s death won’t have been for nothing.”

“I get why you want to go through with finishing it, I really do,” Bonnie said.

“You just can’t, I know,” Sophie finished. “You mind if I ask why that is?”

Bonnie faltered a bit, not really wanting to get into the whole Expression thing.

“Let’s just say I got involved with a mentor that had less than pleasant intentions for me and my power,” she started to explain, trying to block out the shame she felt from her manipulation by Shane and later by Silas. “He led me down a dark path and I was too stupid to even see it and I let him talk me into thinking that I needed to sacrifice twelve witches.”

Sophie glanced out the corner of her eye at the younger witch, the twelve witches being sacrificed sounding somewhat familiar to her but she couldn’t quite place it so she let it go.

“So the idea of being involved with another witch being sacrificed kind of brings back some bad memories for me,” she finished.

“Why did they need to be sacrificed?” Sophie asked curiously and Bonnie quickly shook her head.

“Now that can be a story for another time.”

It didn’t take them long to arrive and Sophie led her through the cemetery and to where most of the witches had gathered and most of them did not look at all happy with her presence.

“Jeez,” Bonnie muttered under her breath, “I know you guys are in a cemetery but they don’t need to act so gloomy,” she said loud enough for only Sophie to hear.

She replied with a snigger of agreement. “You have no idea,” she said, “this is actually their happy faces.”

“Where’s Agnes?” Sophie asked to a few of the witches gathered around the crypts.

One of them pointed to a crypt. “She’s in there,” she said, giving Bonnie a curious once over.

“They don’t get out much to meet other witches,” Sophie whispered to her and they walked over to where Agnes was waiting. “Ancestral magic limits our power is a specific area so a lot of them aren’t willing to be powerless long enough to travel and get out.”

“Sophie,” someone called to her when they entered the crypt.

“Sabine,” Sophie smiled at her the dark skinned woman standing to the side of the crypt. “I take it you were the one who finally managed to change her tune?”

Sabine shook her head, her dark curls swaying. “Nope, I’m just as shocked as you. This wasn’t something any of us were expecting when Agnes called us is today.”

“Well, Sabine this is Bonnie,” Sophie introduced the two and Bonnie gave her a friendly smile.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” she returned the smile but there was something not quite right about it that Bonnie couldn’t put her finger on.

Another witch appeared from the other side of the crypt and Bonnie immediately knew that it had to be Agnes by the distasteful way she was glancing at her and Sophie.

“Agnes,” Sophie spoke, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously on the Elder when she nodded her head to someone behind her and Bonnie.

Bonnie gasped when she was grabbed and a cloth covered her mouth and nose. A struggled cry escaped her and her mind started to go fuzzy and her sight began to fade. She tried to dig her nails in her attacker’s hand in an attempt to get free but her grip faltered and eventually her arm went limp as she blacked out.

The witch lowered her to the ground and all other witches with the exception of Sabine and Sophie looked completely unfazed.

“What the hell, Agnes?” Sophie cried out, eyes darting between the witch lying on the floor and her Elder looking freakishly calm.

“This is none of you concern, Sophie,” she responded and accepted an object that one of the others came over and handed to her. It was some type of cuff, she guessed to be one of the Dark Objects but it was one she was unaware of.

“What are you doing?” Sophie stepped forward but was grabbed and restrained by two other witches. She had no choice but to watch in horror as Agnes unclasped the cuff and that’s when she saw that the inside of the cuff was spiked with what looked like needles.

“This is how we do what we need to do,” Agnes said and knelt down next to Bonnie and picked up her wrist. “We do not need this outside and her magic. If we give her to Marcel, then he will allow us to use our magic once more and with that chance we will find Davina and take this city back from the vampires.”

Sophie struggled to get those holding her to let go and pleaded with Agnes not to put whatever that cuff was on Bonnie but her pleas fell on deaf ears when Agnes securely locked the cuff in place around Bonnie’s wrist.

“What is that?” Sabine was the one to ask. She looked a bit shocked by what had just taken place but she made no attempt to stop it.

“It is designed to bind a witch’s magic,” Agnes said and straightened up, her eyes on Sophie. “And I’m sure it would do well for the Originals to understand that the one who locks the cuff in place is the only one who can unlock it.” Sophie was suddenly being dragged backwards and she felt cool metal being locked around her own wrist, she looked down to see she had been shackled to the iron bars. “But there is no need for the Originals to be aware of what is going on.”

Agnes nodded to two of the male witches who picked Bonnie up and followed Agnes out of the crypt. “We need to meet Marcel at the church,” Sophie managed to hear her say just before she was out of ear shot.

“Sabine,” Sophie pleaded with her friend who gave her an apologetic look.

“They got the key, Sophie, I can’t do anything,” she said and stood before her friend.

“Then you need to go to the Mikaelson’s and tell them what’s happened,” Sophie said but even she knew that was a terrible idea.

“I can’t do that, Sophe,” she replied. “If they find out then they’ll kill Agnes and she’s the only one who can finish the Harvest.”

“Shit,” she cursed and fell back against the gate she was locked to, defeated that there was nothing she could do. She didn’t want them to do this to Bonnie but she also didn’t want Agnes to be killed which is no doubt what would happen if the Originals got involved.

XXX

Bonnie’s neck was in an awkward position as she was slumped in the hard wooden bench of the church. She came to with a low groan and as he consciousness came back, she started to feel an awful burning pain in her arm.

She held up the arm and started to panic when she saw the blood that had gathered around some ancient cuff that was around her wrist, the pain coming from the 4 sharp needle-like spikes that had pierced the skin on all sides of her wrist.

“Don’t try to use magic, it’ll just cause you more pain,” she heard someone speak.

She looked up and saw Agnes standing a few feet away and Bonnie’s panic turned the anger.

“What did you do to me?” she growled, her voice hoarse.

“I am sorry for this treatment, it’s not usual for us,” the older witch looked to her with what Bonnie guessed could be considered sympathy. “This isn’t personal.”

Bonnie refrained from scoffing but she did hold up her cuffed and bloodied wrist, trying her absolute best to ignore the pain the needle like spikes were inflicting, but it showed within the shakiness of her voice. “Well, it feels really goddamn personal.”

“I must do what is best for my coven,” she said and turned away from Bonnie, but not before Bonnie caught the disapproving look. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, not when you’ve picked the side of vampires.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes but didn’t reply. She was trying to think of a way to nurse her wrist but it was futile with the spikes that were piercing her skin. Whichever way she tried to hold it or rest it, they would dig in further and cause her more pain, pain she was trying so desperately hard not to express.

“What is this?” she finally gave up and asked them, referring to the cuff that looked like it was made many, many years ago, perhaps even hundreds.

She was surprised when Agnes actually answered her. “It is a Dark Object,” she told Bonnie. “They were created many years ago, objects that are cursed with a spell for a specific purpose. We may not be able to perform magic at this time but with those objects we are not completely powerless.”

“You talk about loyalty to your own kind but here you have a cursed cuff that binds a witch’s magic and hurts like hell. Not to mention the fact that you’ll sacrifice four innocent teenage witches for the sake of more power, you call that loyalty to your own?”

“Sophie had no right to tell you of the Harvest,” she glowered and turned away from her, staring at the front of the church once again. “That is our own business and I wouldn’t expect you to understand the hard decisions covens must face in dire times.” Agnes turned back to face her and a sinister smirk appeared on the older witch’s face. “I find it ironic, really,” she said, the smirk fading but the sinister glint in her eye sparkled, “you are in this position because of the stance you have taken with the Originals…yet the cuff you are bound with, if our history tells correctly, was created by the guidance of an Original vampire himself…Kol I do believe the journals said his name to be.”

Bonnie tried not to react to what Agnes said, not wanting to give her what she wanted which was a rise out of her. Her eyes drifted down to the cuff painfully wrapped around her wrist. She didn’t have much knowledge of Kol’s time in New Orleans other than he was daggered here before being woken not long before she met him, she had no way to tell if what Agnes had just said held any truth and she hoped that it wasn’t.

“Does that one mean something to you?” Agnes asked.

“They all do,” Bonnie replied truthfully.

Each Mikaelson meant something to her.

She loved Kol with all her heart, Rebekah was one of her closest friends, she may still hold an antagonistic relationship with Klaus but she had still come to care for the hybrid in her own way, and even if she may not have much to do with Elijah himself, she was very fond of the older Mikaelson.

“And I mean something to them,” she continued and stared up at Agnes, eyes piercing into hers. “They probably know somethings wrong by know and I’d really hate to be you when they figure out what you’ve done.”

Bonnie didn’t want to be the reason anyone lost their life but with an already tense relationship with the witches, Bonnie didn’t believe the Mikaelson’s would be too pleased with this little incident.

For her part, Agnes showed know fear. “By which point, you will likely be dead.”

Bonnie smiled sardonically. “Then I guess I’ll see you on the Other Side.”

The doors to the church were thrown open and Bonnie looked passed Agnes to see a group of vampire’s walking inside. She felt dread in the pit of her stomach at the sight of them.

“I guess I’m not to only one siding with vampires,” she commented spitefully when she realised what was going on. “You’re going to hand me over to Marcel?”

“We’ve done what he’s asked,” Agnes said to the one who was clearly in the lead. Bonnie recognised him from her first night here, at the party Marcel held at the Compound. “Her magic is bound.”

“Marcel will be in touch,” one of the vampires said. “I wouldn’t go using any magic until you hear from him.”

“God, your coven is pathetic,” she glared at Agnes and gasped when one of the vampires roughly pulled her to her feet.

She was ignored and dragged towards the back entrance of the church; obviously they didn’t want to make a spectacle out of four guys dragging an obviously distressed girl through the French Quarter. How thoughtful.

There was a large black SUV waiting out the back of the church and the one dragging her practically pushed her in the back seat before climbing in after her.

“What, I don’t get stuffed in the trunk?” she snapped and tried to cradle her wrist, the vampire’s manhandling having aggravated the wound.

“Don’t tempt me,” the vampire growled and the other two got in the front of the car.

Whatever she did or thought, Bonnie at least tried to remain calm. She knew eventually Kol and the rest of the Mikaelson’s would figure out something was wrong and get to her, she just had to hold it out until then.

XXX

When Josh entered the mansion he immediately found Kol with Elijah in one of the many sitting rooms. He tapped almost tentatively against the open door, gaining the attention of both Originals.

“Your master isn’t here,” Kol dismissed Josh and continued to make himself comfortable on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table and openly ignoring his brother’s look of distaste.

“Uh, that’s okay, it was you I wanted to talk to anyway, thought I should talk to… that you would want to know this first,” he rambled nervously causing Kol to arch a brow at the younger vampire. “I overheard Marcel and Diego talking, something about Diego and some of the others meeting with some of the witches.”

Kol looked at him with a board expression. “Marcel having secret meeting with the witches would be more of Nik’s concern, not mine,” Kol said and swirled the whiskey in his glass around before downing it in one gulp. “In fact, anything Marcel does is Nik’s problem, not mine. Remember that for future reference.”

Josh fidgeted on the spot, wanting to be anywhere but there right about now. He really didn’t want to be the one to be giving this information. He probably should have just told Klaus and let him deal with the brother everyone claims to be a maniac. Let him break the news that his brother’s girlfriend or whatever the hell she was to him was about to be slaughtered by Marcel.

“What is it, Josh?” Elijah asked, closing his book and staring intently at the younger, dark haired vampire, sensing there was more from his anxious manner.

“I didn’t hear it all,” he started and rubbed the back of his neck. “But I did hear them say Bonnie’s name and something about Agnes making sure her magic was bound or whatever.”

He risked a glance at Kol and found him sitting deathly still but he could practically see the rage start to roll off him in waves.

Yup, definitely should have gone to Klaus instead, he thought.

“When was this?” Elijah asked.

“Half an hour or so,” he answered. “I had to make sure I wasn’t followed.”

Elijah retrieved his cell phone from his jacket pocket and pressed a few buttons before holding it to his ear. “Niklaus, there seems to be a problem. You need to come home immediately.”

There was a brief back and forth between his brothers but Kol wasn’t paying attention at all, instead thinking of the many ways he could deliver Marcel to the brink of death, let him heal and do it all over again.

“Niklaus will be home shortly,” he said breaking Kol from his murderous fantasies. Next, Elijah called out calmly to his sister, wishing for her to join them. “What else did you hear?” Elijah turned his attention back to Josh who shrugged.

“Not much, just Diego was taking a couple of Marcel’s guys to some church, said that was where they were going to meet.”

Soon enough the blonde Original appeared in the room, looking annoyed to have been summoned but her expression quickly turned to shock when Kol shot up from his seat and launched the glass he was holding at the wall, very narrowly missing her head.

“What in the bloody hell is going on?” she demanded and looked between Kol and Elijah, wanting an answer immediately.

“I’m going to kill him,” Kol growled furiously and started to pace the room. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”

Elijah rose to his feet and took his brother by the shoulders. “You need to stay calm, brother. We will not allow anything to happen to her; we will find her and we will bring her home. She will not be harmed.”

Kol pushed his brother away and continued to pace, fists clenched at his side and imagining every possible way in which he could make Marcel suffer. He’d spend the next thousand years torturing the bastard for even contemplating the thought of harming Bonnie.

“Oh, he didn’t,” Rebekah groaned with disbelief. “Please tell me the bloody idiot hasn’t done what I think he has?” When neither Elijah nor Kol answered, Josh gave a quick nod of his head and Rebekah gave another groan. “Why?”

“He’s had Diego following her since Klaus told him that she was a witch. Marcel didn’t like that she was getting friendly with Sophie.”

Kol spun around, his fiery gaze settling on Josh. “Nik did what?”

“Have you told Nik what’s happened yet?” Rebekah asked, looking at all three of them.

“He is on his way,” Elijah answered. “I’ll tell him in more detail when he arrives.”

“Kol,” Rebekah tried to gain her brother’s attention. “Elijah’s right, we’ll bring her home. She’ll be okay,” she said, trying to sooth him and prevent him from doing something extreme.

Kol snapped his head around and pinned his sister with a glare that had her taking a step backwards. “She was okay before you made her come here, before you and Niklaus lured her here for your own selfish reasons. Now she is in the hands of someone who would gladly kill her just to spite me.”

“Who’s killing who?” They heard Klaus’s infuriatingly calm voice before he sauntered in the room.

Kol had him against the wall within a second, hand at his throat, gripping tight and fangs bared with a feral growl ripping through him. He was thrown back before he managed to tear out his brother’s throat.

Elijah leant over him on one knee and his hand around his neck much like Kol had their brother mere seconds ago. “Kol, I understand your anger, but you need to calm yourself down.”

“Why on earth did you tell Marcel that Bonnie is a witch?” Rebekah fired at Klaus. “She came here to help us and you go ahead and put a target on her back?” She smacked her hands against his chest, pushing him backwards a few paces.

Klaus looked confused for a moment before he pieced together what was happening before him. He cursed under his breath. “I warned him,” he said. “I warned him what Kol would do if he so much as looked in her direction.”

“Why even tell him at all? What in the world were you thinking? What was there to gain from this other than the opportunity for you to gloat?”

“The ‘whys’ don’t matter at the present moment,” Elijah stepped in, helping Kol to his feet and addressing his next statement purely to him. “What matters is getting her home safely.” He looked to the others. “I would imagine the church in question is the same one where Marcel is hiding Davina, but I’m sure Marcel has already made preparation for Bonnie to be collected. The chances of her being there by the time we arrive will be slim.”

Kol was tense, clenching his fists at his sides. He looked to his half-brother. “I swear, Niklaus, if anything happens to her I will make what Mikael put you through seem like child’s play,” Kol threatened lowly before stalking out the room with Rebekah hot on his heels.

“Kol and I will head to the church,” she threw over her shoulder, her eyes met Elijah’s and silently pleaded with her older brother to come with them knowing she’d never be able to control Kol or his actions once he left this house.

“No, you two will come with me. We will go to the cemetery and find Sophie Deveraux,” he turned his attention to Klaus next. “Niklaus, it would be best for you to head to the compound. Marcel will not collect Bonnie himself and I have no doubt that he will be waiting there. You need to get to him before Kol does.”

Klaus didn’t argue as he followed Elijah out of the house, inwardly cursing Marcel for his stupidity.

“Right then, I’ll just let myself out,” Josh mumbled under his breath when he heard the front door slam shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XXX  
> This chapter got a bit out of hand length wise so I decided to split it in two. That way it also lets me update sooner and still gives me time to fix up a few things in the next part I’m still a bit unsatisfied with. All the main action takes part in the next chapter which is pretty much finished and I should hopefully manage to upload it next week.  
> The fact that Kol practiced magic as a human I liked in the show and I hope I didn’t mention anything Kol being a witch before a vamp and actually practicing magic in Fool Me Once because I’ve added it here so if I did mention it and he didn’t practice in Fool Me Once, I’m sorry…continuity error. I’m as bad as JP and CD! (I seriously cannot be bothered to go through the chapters of FMO to find out…that thing is over 200,000 words for crying out loud!)  
> I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review!  
> XXX


	7. The Past is History

The three Originals arrived at the cemetery in quick timing. Rebekah and Elijah were able to walk straight in, but Kol, being the only one not to have received an invite inside from the witches, was bounced back by the invisible barrier.

“He cannot stay out here on his own and I can’t control him,” Rebekah said quietly to Elijah, watching Kol with his fists clenched and the urge to kill etched all over his face. “I will find Sophie and make her explain,” she promised and sped off to find the witch, leaving Elijah to control Kol.

Soon enough, she found the dark haired witch sitting on the floor in one of the crypts, her wrist bound in a shackle connected to the iron bars behind her. She immediately sat up straight when she noticed Rebekah’s furious presence. “I swear I had nothing to do with this,” she said and tried to stand but was pulled down by the shackles.

“Count your blessings you never had the stupidity to invite Kol inside this place,” Rebekah said and broke away the shackles restraining Sophie much to the other girl’s relief at being freed. “You’d probably be dead.” She pulled the witch to her feet none too gently. “Now tell me what the hell happened here and why you didn’t try to stop it.”

“Marcel gave Agnes some ridiculous offer and she was desperate enough to take it,” Sophie explained and rubbed her wrist.

“What deal?” Rebekah demanded.

“If she hands over Bonnie to him then they he’ll let us use magic,” she said. “They left me locked up in here, worried I’d come to your family and tell you what happened.”

The Original’s blue eyes narrowed. “What did they do to her?”

“They knocked her out with a mixture of herbs,” the witch answered, looking at the remains on the herbs scattered on the floor, not wanting to tell the Original the next bit but knowing she had to. It’d be worse for her if she didn’t. “And I’m assuming that one of the conditions was that her magic be bound,” Sophie continued, “they used this old Dark Object on her, it’s some kind of cuff that when put on a witch it blocks her magic.”

Rebekah swore under her breath. “Marcel, you idiot,” she cursed the vampire before trying to calm herself by taking a deep breath. “I hope you know your Coven is as good as dead,” she said to Sophie before she grabbed the witch’s arm and started to lead her back to where her brothers were waiting.

Sophie pulled her arm free of the Original’s grasp but continued to follow her nonetheless. “No,” she argued, “he can’t kill Agnes, she’s our last remaining Elder, we can’t lose her. She’s too important to our coven.”

Rebekah let out a laugh. “Well, they should have taken that into consideration before they took our friend.”

“You guys really care about her, huh?” Sophie commented and saw Elijah and Kol waiting at the entrance of the cemetery and they did not look at all happy.

Rebekah didn’t answer, just pushed Sophie ahead of her and out the gates.

Elijah’s hand on Kol’s shoulder seemed to be the only thing holding him in check.

Rebekah looked to her brothers and quickly re-laid what Sophie had told her. “They knocked her out and bound her magic,” she said to them, not bothering to sugar coat the information, in fact there was part of her that wanted her brother to unleash on these witches.

“They aren’t doing this to hurt Bonnie,” Sophie said, attempting to defuse to situation but failing. “This is because of Marcel, he’s using them.”

“Bonnie is in danger and Agnes contributed to it. I think you’ll find we don’t particularly care about the finer details in this instance,” Rebekah responded with a harsh smile.

“Well, you might be interested in this little detail,” Sophie sent the blonde a sharp look, “the witch who locks the cuff in place is the only one who can unlock it and remove it,” she said to them, fairly certain that she had just secured Agnes’ life, at least for a little while longer. “Agnes is the one who locked it, she’s the only one who can take it off her and if you kill her, it’ll stay on Bonnie forever.”

“This just keep getting better,” Rebekah muttered to herself.

“What did they use to bind her magic?” Kol demanded an answer.

“It’s one of the Dark Objects, cursed items with a certain purpose. They used some old cuff like bracelet.”

“I know what they are,” Kol replied with impatience. “What did it look like?”

“It’s a rusted gold colour, looks pretty old but most of them do, and it had four spikes on the inside of the cuff. I don’t know if they pierced the skin or not but I’m sure it’s not a pleasant thing to wear. Before today, I had never seen that one before.”

“Do you know what this object is?” Elijah asked his brother who gave had clenched his jaw.

“We need to find her and get it off her,” Kol replied tensely, having difficulty restraining himself from tearing out the throat of the witch standing in front of him. “That cuff does more than just bind her magic.”

“What does it do?” Rebekah asked slowly, already dreading the answer.

“It gradually drains a witch of her power,” Kol said and ran a hand down his face in frustration and growing fear for Bonnie. “If we get the cuff off her before it drains her power completely she’ll retain it all if not, she’ll lose it forever.”

“Huh,” Rebekah smiled sarcastically at Sophie. “I guess she did mean intentional harm to Bonnie.”

Kol’s glare pierced the witch. “And would you like to know where Bonnie’s magic will go?” he asked rhetorically. “Your precious Agnes will gain it.”

Sophie eye’s closed, having lost hope that Agnes would live through the day.

Kol would be dead before he saw Bonnie’s magic in the hands of the New Orleans witches.

“How long do we have until this objects drains her magic?” Elijah asked, already calculating a plan in his head.

“It takes a good few hours,” Kol said. “The more powerful the witch the longer it will take to drain their magic.”

“It’s been two hours maybe, since they put it on her. Maybe a bit longer,” Sophie supplied but was ignored by the three vampires.

Rebekah gave Kol a hopeful smile. “We have time, Kol. She’s strong.”

“Not if they hand her over to Marcel,” Kol responded and looked to his brother. “We need to go now.”

“Were they taking her to St. Anne’s Church?” Rebekah questioned and Sophie nodded.

“I think so, I heard her mention getting her to a church” Sophie said. “What do you want me to do?”

“I think you’ve done enough,” Kol growled.

Elijah held his hand up, keeping Kol at bay but his eyes were on Sophie. “Wait for us at the Plantation. We will return there with Bonnie and we may need your assistance.”

The witch nodded but looked at the Original’s pleadingly. “I know what she’s done is awful but this coven needs her. I am begging you, please don’t kill her.”

“I make no promises,” Kol glared, looking more and more agitated by the second.

Sophie said nothing else and heading in the direction of the Original’s home.

Elijah pulled his ringing phone out of his inner breast pocket of his jacket and frowned when he looked at the screen.

“What is it?” Rebekah asked, hoping it wasn’t more bad news.

“Go on without me,” he said without answering her question and Kol didn’t need to be told twice before disappearing. “Go,” he repeated to Rebekah when she hesitated. “Do not leave him to his own devices. He is not thinking clearly”

She nodded and reluctantly followed after her brother, leaving Elijah alone to answer the call.

“Lucy,” he greeted the caller tersely.

“Tell my cousin to pick her damn phone up.”

Elijah took a moment before speaking, wanting to delay having to tell Lucy that Bonnie was in danger but not wanting to keep the truth from her. “We have a problem,” he told her with a calm voice.

“What’s going on?” Lucy demanded, the worry clear in her tone. “Where’s Bonnie?”

“We are not too sure but –

Her voice raised. “What the hell has happened, Elijah?”

The Original ran his tongue over his teeth. “It appears Marcel is not pleased with Bonnie’s involvement with one of the witches here in the Quarter. He has somehow convinced the other witches to bind Bonnie’s magic and hand her to him.”

Lucy did not respond right away but Elijah could hear her breathing on the other line, her breaths short indicating she was not only worried but furious.

“I guess I couldn’t have arrived at a better time,” she said. “Where am I meeting you?”

XXX

By the time the car came to a stop, Bonnie had started to feel light headed and weak, like all the energy was somehow being sucked out of her. She didn’t know if it was because of the emotional and physical distress she was currently experiencing, it was that feeling of weakness that had terrified her more than what could be waiting for her with Marcel. She knew something else had to be happening and she believed it had something to do with the cuff that was locked around her wrist.

The vampire next to her got out of the car and pulled her along with him and Bonnie found herself leaning against the vampire as she swayed on her feet.

The took her inside and Bonnie didn’t take much notice of where they were taking her but she wound up in a room and was all but pushed down on the couch. She raised a hand to her head and her eyes closed involuntarily for a short moment before she forced them open again.

She heard heavy footsteps enter the room and raised her head with an alarming struggle to see Marcel sauntering towards her.

“I told you not to hurt her,” she heard him say to the vampire standing guard.

The vampire shook his head. “We didn’t,” he said to Marcel. “I think the witches did more than just bind her magic.”

He said something that Bonnie didn’t quite catch and her vision blurred for a few second before it cleared and she saw a glass of water held in front of her.

“Here, drink this,” Marcel offered her the glass but Bonnie glared at it then at him. “Look, I didn’t bring you here to hurt you,” he said and lowered himself in front of her so he was level with her and insisting that she took the glass and slowly she reached out and took it.

“Could have fooled me,” Bonnie snapped at him and took a slow sip of the water, the cool liquid making her feel the slightest bit better and more alert.

His eyes went to her bloodied wrist and he looked almost apologetic. “And I didn’t intend for them to do anything like that to you. I just wanted your magic cut off for a bit so we could talk without anyone getting hurt.”

Bonnie raised a doubtful eyebrow at the vampire. “If you wanted to talk you could have just friended me on Facebook like a normal person, not have me knocked out, my magic bound and treated like a captive.”

Marcel gave a quick laugh. “You’ve got a spark, that’s for sure,” he commented, his eyes sparkling. “I can see why they like you.”

She ignored his comment and drank some more water.

“You know, I was in your position once,” he said and adjusted himself to sit on the edge of the coffee table, moving it a bit closer to Bonnie. “I was close with the Mikaelson’s, I grew up around them, I considered them my family and they treated me like family. Well… all of them but Kol. He was never a fan of mine,” he told her and clasped his hands together, his elbows resting on his knees.

“Is there a point to this trip down memory lane?” Bonnie queried with a bored expression.

“The point is you seem like a nice girl,” he said to her, “and nice people don’t last around the Originals.”

Bonnie snickered. “So your plan isn’t to kill me but to turn me against the Mikaelson’s? So I’ll what, leave?”

He shook his head and picked up a white cloth that she didn’t see was next to him on the coffee table. “Not turn you against them,” he said and held out his free hand towards her, insisting she give him her wounded wrist, “just show you who they really are.”

She slowly held out her wrist and was surprised with the gentle way in which he took it and dabbed the damp cloth around the cuff and along her arm where the blood had dripped and stained her arm.

“I know who they are,” she spoke softly. “I’ve seen the bad side of them all but I’ve also seen the good in them.”

She gave a sharp hiss when he made contact with the cuff and pushed the top spike further in her skin.

“It’s things like this that make me treat the witches like I do, control their magic the way I do,” he said and wiped away the remaining smears along her arm. “I don’t know what kind of witch you are but the ones here aren’t kind. They are violent, even towards their own and I don’t want to see those types of people in power.”

“It’s always rich hearing a vampire calling a witch violent,” Bonnie said and pulled her arm away from him but accepted the cloth that he held out for her and continued to hold it gingerly to her wrist, making sure not to touch the cuff.

“I guess you’d know something about violent vampires, what with you being with one.”

Bonnie repressed her groan. It always came back to her relationship with one of the Mikaelson’s. “Kol and I aren’t even together anymore.”

“I want to show you something,” he said and held his hands out, “some of my memories of Kol from when I was younger, if you’ll let me.”

Bonnie wanted to say no but found herself nodding and Marcel raised his hands and slowly placed them on either side of her head. She’d always been curious of Kol’s past from what she’s heard from people about him.

It hadn’t been the first time a vampire had been inside her head like this (though she had been asleep the last time) but it was still an uneasy and uncomfortable feeling, having someone else in your head like that.

She saw the Compound, or what was the Compound a number of years ago. There was a group of people standing in front of her -or in front of Marcel as she was seeing from his eyes. They all looked tense and full of fear, and some were bleeding. She heard the voice of a younger Marcel speak and turned his head and she felt herself flinch when she found herself looking in Kol’s eyes, but unlike the times he looks at her, there was no warmth in his gaze but instead he looked gleefully sadistic as he stood and walked towards the people with a frustrated look. He stood behind one of the men with his hands on his shoulders and Bonnie gasped when he suddenly snapped the man’s neck.

She was suddenly pulled from the memory and was looking back at Marcel.

“He had force fed me his blood that night,” he told her. “He had plans to turn me and would have if Klaus and Elijah hadn’t put a dagger in his heart not five minutes after what you just saw.”

Bonnie had always been aware that Kol had a violent past (and really, a still violent present) but to see it like that, like she was seeing it with her own eyes was something else. Even though she had experienced his cruelty first hand during that period when he discovered her lies and betrayal, she had been told that he hadn’t been even half as cruel as he had to others for less. But this… this was completely different. This was Kol’s version of fun, killing for the pleasure because it was something he enjoyed.

“How do I know you didn’t make that up?” Bonnie asked, knowing full well that he didn’t but she still hoped.

“You know I didn’t,” he said. “Because if you know him half as well as you say you do then you know he’s capable of that level of sadistic violence.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You think that showing me something from Kol’s past is going to make me leave? I know what he’s capable of.”

As she said the words, she started to think to herself that maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she doesn’t know him as well as she thought he did but she wasn’t going to let that show in front of something like Marcel.

“I don’t want to have to hurt you, Bonnie,” Marcel said, sounding oddly sincere. “Contrary to what you may think about me, I don’t get off on violence and hurting people. I just want to run my city and keep things the way they are and you being here threatens that. You leave then I’ll get Agnes to come take that thing off you, but if you refuse and stay here with the Mikaelson’s….” His threat was left hanging in the air.

Bonnie actually wanted to laugh. Not because she found what he said amusing but because of the absolute kerfuffle her being here has caused. The witches don’t want her here and neither do the vampires, both of whom have conspired to get rid of her within a week of her being here. She didn’t give two craps about who ended up in control of this city, the only reason she was here was to find Elijah and keep Kol from ending up in a coffin, yeah and maybe she’s sticking around because she doesn’t want to see any more witches at the mercy of vampires like she herself had been since discovering who she was.

“Can I give you a bit of advice?” Bonnie looked at Marcel, unfazed by his threat. She knew sooner or later one or all of the Mikaelson’s would show up. “You might have been family to the Mikaelson’s once upon a time, but so am I… and to Kol I’m so much more,” she said, her voice steady and her eyes on his, “and if you seem to know so much about what he is capable of, then you know that you won’t be walking away from this in one piece.”

Marcel’s eyes darkened and he looked just about ready to reply with some counter threat but he didn’t get the chance.

“You wouldn’t listen to me than perhaps you will listen to her,” Klaus’ voice suddenly rang through the room and Bonnie felt her heart jump. She’d never been so happy to see him in all her life.

“Klaus!” she called his name with sheer relief and suddenly all her composure had faltered.

Marcel quickly jumped to his feet and the other vampire in the room was at his side in an instant but Klaus’ eyes were on Bonnie.

“You all right, love?” he asked with genuine concern.

She had thought she nodded her head but ended up shaking it no. “I need this thing off me,” she said and held up her wrist. “It’s doing something to me and I don’t know what.”

He nodded then looked to Marcel. “Marcellus, you fool. I warned you to stay away from her.”

“And I warned you to keep her out of my business,” Marcel shot back, not backing down from the hybrid.

Bonnie stood up but a little too quickly and whatever that cuff was doing to her caused her to experience a slight dizzy spell where she had to clutch the arm of the chair for support.

“What have you done to her?” Klaus growled and pushed passed the vampires and wrapped an arm around Bonnie to keep her upright.

“That wasn’t us,” Marcel said and when Klaus didn’t seem to believe it Bonnie confirmed that he was right.

“It wasn’t them, it’s this,” she said and held up her wrist that had started to bleed again. “Whatever it is, it’s blocking my magic and making me feel weaker by the minute.”

“We’ll get you home and get it off.” He promised, his voice oddly soothing to Bonnie. He gave Marcel a furious look but there was also concern behind it. “You best hope I get her out of here before Kol finds her here.”

A loud crash sounded throughout the compound and Bonnie nearly laughed. “Too late.”

Klaus cursed and gently lowered Bonnie back down to sit on the chair. “You’re okay,” he said softly and brushed some hair back from her face. “Just stay here. We’ll get you home soon.”

Klaus couldn’t risk Kol seeing Bonnie like this. It would send his brother to another level of fury that he did not want to see unleashed upon Marcel. The hybrid still considered the vampire family, no matter what difficulties and disagreements they were currently having. The three vampires left the room and Bonnie slumped in the chair, the dizziness having now been coupled with a throbbing headache and a light tingling sensation in her fingers.

XXX

Lucy was agitated as she waited impatiently for Elijah to show up. She couldn’t believe this had happened.

She had got on a flight as soon as her friend had gotten back to her about the Harvest and what it entailed. There was no way Lucy was going to leave her cousin to her own devices with a coven that extreme, but of course leave it to Bonnie to find trouble quicker than anyone she had ever met before.

Lucy would probably be laughing right about now if she didn’t carry the urge to burn something to the ground.

Not soon enough the Original finally turned up and the witch pushed the sudden jolt of emotion she felt when she saw him deep, deep down. It wasn’t the time.

“You know, I thought if anyone could keep her safe it’d be Kol but I guess I got that dead wrong,” she said rather harshly as soon as he was close enough to hear it and he responded with a look that told her he didn’t approve of her placing all the blame onto his brother.

“I assure you, he’s tried quite hard to keep her out of this but alas, your cousin is unbelievably stubborn,” he replied.

“She only came here to find your sorry ass and now she’s gone and involved herself in a goddamn war between witches and vampires!” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. If she wanted to help her cousin then she couldn’t lose it, no matter how badly she wanted to hurt something (or someone). “Explain to me what happened,” she requested calmly.

“You’re aware she’s been in close contact with one of the witches?” she nodded. “This particular witch was deceived by her coven to bring Bonnie to their grounds, she was not involved. The witches were working on behalf of Marcel who we believed had offered them some sort of deal, perhaps the ability to freely practice magic.”

Lucy roughly ran a hand through her hair. “So they handed her over to Marcel.”

“We do not know what his plans for her are, but I imagine they are not well.”

“No shit,” she snapped then paused to take in another deep breath. “Do I need to do a locator spell?” she asked.

“We know she is at one of two locations,” he told her, “Kol and Rebekah have gone to where the witches took her while Klaus has gone to Marcel directly. I have no doubts that my siblings will take control of the situation and bring Bonnie home safely.”

Lucy nodded, feeling just a bit more at ease knowing three Originals were close. “Okay, so what do we do?”

“You and I are going to locate the witch responsible for this,” he answered in a way that made Lucy want to smirk. “It needs to be made clear to the witches as much as the vampires that Bonnie is not to be used in their plots and ploys.”

“Good answer.”

XXX

By the time Klaus reached the downstairs area with Marcel and Diego, the floor was already scattered with the bodies of four vampires with their hearts lying next to their bodies.

“Kol,” Klaus tried to get his brother’s attention but Kol’s intensely furious gaze instead landed on Marcel behind him.

“Where is she?” He growled and stepped over one of the dead vampires that lay at his feet.

Rebekah was close behind Kol and placed her hand on his shoulder in hopes to calm him just a bit. Like Klaus, she did not want to see Kol take off Marcel’s head. She knew what he had attempted was so utterly stupid beyond belief and she was furious about the danger he had put her friend in, but there was that part of her that still cared deeply for Marcel and couldn’t bear the thought of Kol killing him.

“She’s fine,” Klaus tried to tell him but Kol didn’t want to hear anything his brother had to say. He knew what was around Bonnie’s wrist, he designed the cursed thing so he knew that she was not okay. He had to get her. He had to get that thing off her before it caused her permanent damage like it had to the others before her.

Another tried to get in his way when he made a move towards Marcel but in an instance he too joined his fallen comrade but this time Kol didn’t drop the heart and instead crushed it in his hand.

Others of Marcel’s vampires had gathered around the compound, ready to come to the defence of their leader and friend against the Originals but Marcel raised his hand, a signal for no other to try and intervene. He knew none of them could win a fight against Kol and losing five of his guys was five too many.  No one noticed when one of the vampires slipped away from the group and headed further into the compound.

“She’s not okay and she’ll be getting worse,” Rebekah said for Kol, stepping in line next to her brother. “Those witches are draining her power.”

“The cuff around her wrist?” Marcel took the risk and spoke, earning himself a deadly glare from Kol. “I only asked for her magic to be bound, I didn’t ask for her to be harmed.”

“You only intended to harm her yourself,” Kol pushed away Rebekah’s hand on his arm but before he could reach Marcel Klaus had stepping in his path. Kol used his strength to knock his brother down and out of his path to take Marcel by the throat, backing him up to the stone wall. His other hand was imbedded in the younger vampire’s chest and he smirked at the sudden fear that flashed in Marcel’s eyes.

“Kol!” Klaus yelled and jumped back to his feet but did not attempt to forcibly remove his brother away from Marcel.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t, Nik,” Kol said to his brother through clenched teeth. “Tell me why I shouldn’t tear him apart just for the mere thought of harming her?”

It was a pained cry that prevented Klaus from responding and Kol froze, eyes wide as he recognised the sound. He slowly turned his head towards the upper level of the Compound and saw a very stupid and very dead vampire holding Bonnie with a hand around her throat.

“Let him go, or I kill your little witch bitch,” he threatened and Kol could see the blood around his mouth and his eyes looked to Bonnie’s neck to a mess of red.

Oh yes, he thought, a very dead vampire indeed.

Kol didn’t even need to let go of Marcel because in a matter of seconds Rebekah had gotten a hold of the overzealous vampire pulling him backwards with her arm around his neck, cracking his spine and letting him drop to the floor before she grabbed Bonnie in a protective hold.

“What an idiot,” Rebekah commented with a shake of her head and turned to Bonnie. She tilted the witch’s head slightly to get a better look at the bite on her neck. She determined that it wasn’t too bad, nothing a bit of vampire blood wouldn’t fix.

 “Kol, we have her now let’s go,” she called out to her brother who looked very torn between finishing what he started with Marcel or coming over to Bonnie to check on her himself.

Bonnie leant against Rebekah, as she led her carefully down the steps, the blonde holding most of her weight and was cautious not to touch her wrist. “Kol,” she said his name with evident exhaustion, “I just want to get out of here.”

Kol looked back at Marcel with a sneer and removed his hand from his chest and instead settled with twisting his neck, the crack not nearly as satisfying as it would have been to rip out his heart and crush it in his hand. Kol then turned his head to his brother. “He tries anything again and I will kill him,” he warned before walking over to Bonnie with frightfully calm steps.

He reached her and tenderly brushed his hand along her cheek, the relief that she was okay written all over his face but Bonnie couldn’t help but tense and shy away from his touch when she felt the warm stickiness on her face of not just Marcel’s blood on his hands but the blood of the five bodies on the ground that she was already trying not to look at.

He pulled back his hand and Bonnie looked away when she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes from her pulling back from him.

“We should go,” Rebekah said and started to lead Bonnie out the back way of the compound, not wanting to bring any attention to themselves out in the busy streets.

“I’ll wait until Marcel wakes up,” Klaus told them and Kol replied with a shrug before he followed his sister, and love, wiping his hands as best he could on his dark jacket.

Klaus watched his siblings leave and he looked down at Marcel’s body with a disapproving shake of the head. “I warned you,” he muttered. He left his body there and made his way to the other incapacitated vampire. “And as for you…” he glanced down at the idiotic vampire that tried to save the day. He reached down and grabbed the vampire’s foot and started to drag him down the steps and to a stop a bit away from Marcel.

“Let this be a warning to the rest of you,” he said, loud enough to capture the attention of the vampires that had lingered for Marcel to awaken. “No matter what he,” he pointed down to Marcel, “says, she is off limits.”

Down on one knee, he thrust his hand into the chest of the unconscious vampire and ripped out the and held it up for the others to see before letting it fall from his grasp.

XXX

Rebekah immediately sat Bonnie down on the couch when they returned home and instantly started to fuss over the other girl, checking over her injuries once again.

“I’ll be right back,” she said and gently touched her arm to get a better look at her wound, “I’m going to try and find something for that and for your neck. It’s probably best not to give you vampire blood until we get that off you.”

Bonnie nodded and noticed that her hands had started to shake but she wasn’t sure if it was a side effect of the cuff or a physical reaction to what had transpired in the last few hours.

“Hey,” Rebekah got her attention by taking her hands and kneeling in front of her. “It’s okay,” she said softly, and squeezed her hands gently. “You’re okay.”

She attempted a smile and Rebekah slowly rose to her feet and left to get whatever she needed to relieve some of the pain and distress Bonnie was feeling.

She had only been gone a moment before someone else entered the room and when Bonnie looked up to see Sophie, the surprise didn’t even register in her. Sophie took a seat next to the younger witch and Bonnie could see that there was guilt painted across her face.

“I knew something wasn’t right when Agnes said she wanted to meet you,” Sophie said apologetically and looked down at the cuff. “I’m so sorry, I never wanted that to happen. I never thought that would happen.”

Bonnie shook off her apology. “Do you know is this doing to me?” she asked and lifted her wrist.

“Yeah,” Sophie started with a sigh and gentle took Bonnie’s wrist to gain a closer look at the object, “before I came here I went back looked over the recorded archives of the Dark Objects. This one is the Cursed Cuff, while it does bind a witch’s magic, that isn’t its main purpose.”

“Which is?”

“Which is to remove the witch’s power,” Sophie answered. “It’s why you’re probably feeling pretty weak right now; it’s got some physical side effects.”

Rebekah returned. She had a white cloth draped over her arm, a bowl in one hand, and in her other a glass that was over half the way full of ember liquid. She put the bowl and cloth on the coffee table and held out the glass for Bonnie to take.

“Alcohol, really?” Sophie arched a brow and Rebekah glared at her.

“Aspirin and pain killers aren’t much use for vampires so we don’t tend to have them lying around in our medicine cabinets,” Rebekah replied with some spite towards the witch and sat down on the other side of Bonnie, reaching for the bowl and cloth. “Besides, scotch is just as good.”

She pushed back Bonnie’s hair away from her neck and after dipping the cloth in the bowl, she started to dab at her neck gently with the damp cloth, making Bonnie hiss at the initial contact of the cotton against her punctured flesh.

“Where’s Kol,” Bonnie found herself asking, scrunching up her nose at the continuing stinging sensation.

“He’s just cleaning himself up a bit,” she replied and continued to dab at her neck after dipping the cloth back in the water. “I figured that was for the best, you’ve seen your share of blood for today.”

And he was covered in it, Bonnie remembered.

“I hate to ask but Agnes….” Sophie looked to Rebekah who again glared at her.

“Of course she’s alive,” Rebekah snapped, “we still need her to unlock this bloody cuff.”

“What?” Bonnie asked, looking between the witch and the vampire.

Rebekah let out a sigh. “Unfortunately for us, only Agnes can remove that delightful contraption because she is the one who put it on you,” Rebekah explained. “But don’t you worry about that, Elijah will track her down and we’ll make her get that thing off you.”

“So where does my power go?” Bonnie wondered, deciding to just let the bad news keep on coming.

“According to Kol, Agnes will gain your power,” the Original answered and Bonnie stilled at the mention of Kol knowing about the cuff, it brought back what Agnes had said earlier about his involvement in the making of it.

Had he really been the one to come up with the idea for this cuff, along with a number of other items that did God knows what? She needed to know, and she needed to know why he had something like this made. Had it something to do with the rocky past he had with the witches of this city he mentioned vaguely to her earlier?

Rebekah, mistaking her reaction for being about the Elder gaining her magic, touched the glass that Bonnie was holding and brought it up closer to her mouth. “Here, take a drink. It’ll help take the edge off.”

“She really shouldn’t,” Sophie disagreed with the Original. “You don’t know how much blood she might have lost and with her physical side effects…”

“Oh, shut it,” Rebekah brushed off Sophie and encouraged Bonnie to take a sip. “It’ll help until we can take it off and give you some of our blood.”

“And keep in mind your power isn’t going to come straight back,” Sophie told her. “It’ll probably be around twenty-four hours before you can use magic properly again. That’s what a witch who had it on wrote about it. Good news was that she retained all her magic, she was still just as powerful as she was before.”

Bonnie took a small sip of the drink, the taste not bothering her for the first time, she barely even noticed it. She wanted to ask about Agnes and what was going to happen but she really didn’t want to hear about her anymore. She’d had enough of that witch in a couple of hours to last her a lifetime.

Rebekah finished cleaning her neck and placed the cloth back in the water to rinse it before taking it to her wrist, gently dabbing at the skin around the cuff. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked, mindful not to put too much pressure on the limb.

Bonnie shook her head. “Other than a killer migraine,” she leant forward and placed the glass on the coffee table and stood up. “I have aspirin in my bag,” she said to them, “I’m going to go take some.”

“Do you want me to go get them?” Rebekah offered but Bonnie refused, wanting a bit of head space.

“No, I got it,” she said and headed towards the stairs, slower than usual. She shook her head when she could still hear Rebekah and Sophie bickering from the living room when she got to the stairs.

Thankfully she made it to her room without any dizzy spells or blackouts, and went straight to the bathroom where she kept her aspirin. She shook two pills out of the bottle and popped them in her mouth. She turned on the tap and cupped her hand to gather some water to wash down the dry pills.

She caught sight of her reflection, frowning at the fact that she not only felt terrible but she also looked terrible. Her hair was tangled from the transportation between locations when she was unconscious, she had bruises forming on her arms from being grabbed, there was streaks of red along her wrist and she had started to look a bit pale with dark circles forming under her eyes – no doubt side effects of her magic being drained thanks to that delightful little thing locked onto her for who knows how much longer.

Leaving the bathroom, she switched off the light a little rougher than necessary and walked out of her room. She paused briefly outside Kol’s door, it was open and she could hear the faint sounds of the shower running. She really wanted (and needed) to ask him about what Agnes had told her but there was something inside of her that forced her to keep moving, something that didn’t want to face him at this moment.

When she got back downstairs she could still hear the argumentative conversation between the witch and the Original so she bypassed the living room and sought refuge in the downstairs study. She went straight for the decanter that sat upon the mantel and poured a bit too much in the glass beside it but her hands had once again started to shake and the heavy crystal slipped from her grasp.

She braced herself for the heavy smash of glass but it never came because Klaus had caught it before it hit the ground. She was surprised to see him back so soon.

“Sorry,” she found herself apologising but he shook it off and placed the decanter back on the mantel.

His eyes drifted down to her wrist and he lifted it to inspect it, brow furrowed as he raised his eyes to hers. “Why hasn’t it been removed yet?”

“Because only Agnes can remove it,” she answered with agitation and with her other hand she picked up the glass and took a large gulp, welcoming the burning sensation.

“Of course,” he replied. “Witches and their loopholes.”

She silently agreed. Sometimes her own kind pissed her off more than the vampires did with their wishy washy ways.

“I am sorry, Bonnie,” he said with a softness that was so unlike him and she gave him a confused expression. “I had told Marcel you were a witch, not with the intention of this happening, of course, but nonetheless I can’t help but feel responsible for happened today.”

A real, genuine, sincere apology was something she never thought she would ever receive from Klaus for anything and the fact that he just gave her one had shocked her more so than anything else today.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with you telling him,” she said once she recovered. “It was my involvement with Sophie that made him do it.”

“He’d have had no reason to follow you in the first place had I not told him,” Klaus insisted and lowered her wrist. She went to object further but he beat her to it. “Rarely do I ever apologise, Bonnie, so just accept and we can move past it.”

A small laugh escaped her and realised it had been the first time in hours that she had given anyone a real smile. “Okay, I accept your apology.”

Klaus shifted and reached passed her to the mantle to grab the scotch and fill the other glass. “You were right with what you said earlier,” he said, “to Marcel.”

“With what?” she asked and moved to lean against the edge of the desk, Klaus following and taking a seat on the chair in front of the desk. “I said a lot of things to Marcel.”

“You are family, Bonnie.”

Bonnie’s expression softened as she stared at the hybrid who simply downed the remainder of his drink and leant forward to place the empty glass on the desk.

“And for this week only you can use my car whenever you want,” he added and got to his feet. “But just for this week,” he emphasised and through her speechlessness, she managed to muster up a smile before he left the room.

XXX

Bonnie remained in the study while Klaus went to find Rebekah. She saw Kol pass and got his attention.

“So who’s avoiding who here?” she asked, trying to sound amused but failing miserably.

He came to a stop outside the door and she could tell that he didn’t want to walk into the room but he pushed himself to. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t want to be around her right now. In the past when she had been even the slightest bit hurt he had been all over her but now it was like he didn’t want to be anywhere near her.

He stood in the doorway, refusing to come any further into the room. It was like there was a barrier between them that he wasn’t willing to cross.

“You can barely even look at me right now.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes were on her wrist. “I can’t talk to you while you’re wearing that,” he said, his voice was rich with guilt and anger.

“Because you’re the one who had the idea to make it?” She let out before she could even think and his eyes snapped to her face. “Yeah, I know about it, Agnes mentioned it. She thought it was ironic that I was wearing it when it was an Original who created it.”

It was a long and silent moment and she felt frustrated when it became clear that he wasn’t going to respond.

“Has this got anything to do with the unpleasant history you have with the witches here?” she asked and he finally responded, even if it was just a simple nod. Bonnie gave a humourless laugh. “I guess it is kind of ironic,” she said. “I wind up wearing a torture device you made a hundred or so years ago because of you.”

“This is not my fault,” Kol stepped further into the room. “Had you stayed away from the witches like I had asked you numerous times then this would not have happened.”

She stood up and was hit with another wave of dizziness from the cuff’s effects. Her head felt light and she saw black spots in front of her eyes. “Whoa,” she breathed and grabbed onto the arm of the closest chair. She vaguely heard Kol say her name but she did feel his arm wrap around her and hold her upright against him.

He pushed back her hair from her face. “Are you okay?” she shook her head, eyes closing and she tried to breathe in deeply, feeling short of breath. “Elijah should have found Agnes by now. It shouldn’t be too much longer and we can get that off you.”

“Why would you want to have something like this made?” she asked weakly, opening her eyes to see his face full of concern and once again, guilt.

“It’s a long story,” he answered, looking away from her. It wasn’t something he felt like getting into, at least not right now. He eased her into one of the chairs and dragged the other one closer and sat down across from her, their knees touching.

“Today has made me wonder if I really know you at all,” she admitted to him. “There’s just so much that I still don’t know about you and you don’t seem to want to tell me anything about your past here.”

“You know all the important stuff about me,” he responded, covering her hands with his to reassure her. “The things that others like Agnes think they know about me and what I’ve done, that’s the stuff you don’t need to know.”

The stuff I don’t want you to know, he wanted to add.

“Why not?”

She might have realised today that she may not be away of his full capabilities, but it wasn’t like she didn’t know about some of the things he’s done. She knew some of the horrific things he’s done, what he did to people who betrayed him.

He once again refused to answer her.

“Marcel showed me something,” she told him and he finally looked at her again, “a memory, one he had of you from when he was younger.”

“I can only imagine which one,” he replied and looked down at their hands. “The night they put a dagger in me, I presume?”

She nodded. “I saw what you compelled those people to do and how you threatened to turn Marcel, forced him to feed on your blood.”

He still hadn’t looked back up at her and she didn’t know if it was out of guilt or shame, and she had a feeling it wasn’t because he regrets what he did but the opposite, because he enjoyed it. He enjoys those types of torment to inflict on people.

“You know my past isn’t exactly savoury,” he said and ran a hand back and forth over he hair.

“You’re right, I do know that but that seems to be all I know.”

“Why do you want to know so bad?” he argued.

“Can you at least tell me about the Dark Objects,” she said and looked down at her wrist, “this one in particular?”

“Bonnie,” he tried but she shook her head, not wanting to let it go. She wanted to know.

“No, I want to know. I deserve to know, given the circumstances, don’t you think?”

“I didn’t create them all, just a handful of them with a few witches to help them gain the upper hand against opposing witches,” he reluctantly began to tell her. “I had been around, knew things, learnt of new types of magic and I taught it to them so they could make those objects.”

“Why would they help you make those types of things?”

“Because of promises I made to them,” he said. “Ultimately it ended with me in a coffin until last year.”

“I thought Klaus daggered you because you wanted to find Mikael.”

“That’s only half of it,” he admitted, “there was another reason that prompted Nik’s actions even though he didn’t know the full details, one I confided in Rebekah about, thinking she would at the very least understand but she didn’t waste a moment in running to Nik and telling him.”

Bonnie was honestly amazed that the Mikaelson’s were still together after all this time and after everything they had done to each other, the bickering, the fighting, the deceiving… it was an honest shock that they hadn’t parted ways for good.

Bonnie opened her mouth but Rebekah appeared in the doorway, looking between the pair. “Elijah’s back with Agnes,” she told them.

“Finally,” Bonnie murmured and pushed herself up and followed Rebekah back to the living room without looking back.

“You two okay?” Rebekah asked her quietly and Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. There appeared to be a lot that she and Kol needed to work through.

Agnes and Elijah wasn’t the only new additions Bonnie saw when she walked into the room. Lucy was besides Elijah, her cousin looking rather taken aback by her appearance. After all her warnings to be careful, Lucy was the last person Bonnie wanted to see her like this.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Lucy came over to Bonnie and placed her hands on either side of the younger girl’s face.

Bonnie wanted nothing more than to cry but she wouldn’t. Not in front of Agnes. She didn’t want to give the woman the satisfaction with knowing she’d really gotten to her today.

“Let’s get this done,” Klaus said, his hand curled around Agnes’ bicep and pulled her along towards Bonnie. “Take it off,” he demanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Bonnie shook her head at Agnes’ audacity to act like the victim in this situation. “I warned you,” she said to the older woman who just glared in response. “You could have avoided all of this but instead you set me up to be killed and tried to steal my magic while you were at it.”

“I would not expect you to understand my decisions,” she replied, repeating her words from earlier. “You’ve turned your back on your own to side with demons.”

“Just shut up and take this off her,” Lucy interrupted and held Bonnie’s wrist out towards Agnes while she removed what looked to be an odd looking key from her pocket. The key had a sharp tip which Agnes used to nick her finger, letting a drop of blood coat the tip before inserting the key in the small hole on the underside of the cuff. Bonnie heard a click and she felt the cuff pull, the sudden movement causing her to flinch from the pain.

Lucy all but pushed the other witch out the way and carefully touched either side of the unlocked cuff. She slowly started to pull the parts away and Bonnie winced at the feeling of the spikes slowly being pulled from her flesh.

“I’m sorry,” Lucy hated that removing this thing was seemingly causing more pain.

She felt a strong yet calming pair of hands on her shoulders and a whimper escaped her when Lucy pulled it further apart and away from her skin. A quick scan of the room let Bonnie know that it was Elijah behind her.

“Almost there,” Lucy said and started to lift it away, the sharp needles sliding from her skin. “There we go,” she lifted the cuff upwards and pulled the last spike free.

The four small but deep puncture wounds had started to bleed profusely once the spikes had been removed and Lucy accepted the cloth that Rebekah held out to her and wrapped it around Bonnie’s wrist to control the bleeding.

“You okay?” Lucy checked her and Rebekah took over to apply some pressure to the wound.

“The cuff is off,” Sophie said, stepping in front of Agnes protectively. “We can go now, right?”

“Not just yet,” Lucy said and further inspected the cuff, turning over in her hand, ignoring the red stains. “How do you destroy these things?” She didn’t want any other witch to have to experience what her cousin just did.

“I’ll take care of it,” Sophie offered and received a doubtful expression from Lucy.

“You honestly think I’m going to hand this back to your coven so you can use it on others later on?”

“I’ll make sure they keep away from it until I can destroy it,” Sophie promised but no one in the room believed her. “You have my word it won’t be used again.”

“Your word doesn’t mean much to us anymore,” Rebekah gave her a distrustful stare from where she stood. “You’re lucky we haven’t killed you both. The vampires involved weren’t so fortunate.”

“And Marcel is unimpressed with your pathetic attempt,” Klaus added.

“We did not do this to hurt her,” Agnes defended herself and her coven. “We did it for our survival.”

“But you sure jumped at an opportunity to steal my magic, didn’t you?”

“You don’t deserve your magic,” she sneered. “Using it to benefit vampires, our enemies.”

“Oh, my God,” Bonnie chucked to herself. “I really am starting to see why Marcel’s done what he’s done. You lot are insane!”

“Get her out of here before I do something I’ll have to pretend to regret,” Lucy requested.

“With pleasure,” Sophie murmured and started to lead Agnes away from the Mikaelson’s and the Bennett’s.

Lucy muttered to herself that she needed to try a few things in attempt to destroy the cuff.

“I know how to destroy it,” Kol spoke up from the corner of the room and came over to take the cuff from her. After all, he invented the contraption.

Bonnie watched him turn it over a few times, his face seemingly devoid of all emotion. She watched his finger trace one of the spikes, the redness of her blood staining his fingertip. He looked up and caught her gaze and it was then she saw it in his eyes, his desire, his need to kill. She shook her head, a silent plea for him not to do anything.

Agnes might have willingly hand her over to die and try to steal her magic but Bonnie didn’t want the witch to die because of her. She didn’t want anyone killing for her, she never has. The point had been made and Bonnie doubted that Agnes would try anything again ever, no matter what Marcel might offer next.

“One more thing,” Kol ignored her plea and at the same time gained the attention of everyone else in the room.

He casually walked over to the two witches.

“Kol,” Bonnie warned and when Elijah stopped his brother with a hand on his shoulder she was relieved, but it was only short lived before the oldest Mikaelson had taken matters into his own hands and snapped Agnes’ neck.

Bonnie’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped in shock while Sophie let out a cry as the Elder fell dead to the floor before them.

“You didn’t need to kill her!” Bonnie cried when she managed to speak again.

“We did,” Klaus spoke and Rebekah’s head nodded in agreement.

“It’s imperative that we make a statement that we nor the ones we care about are to be trifled with,” Elijah explained to her. “That message has been delivered to the vampires courtesy of Kol and Niklaus, and one needed to be sent to the witches.”

“We got the message loud and clear, you didn’t need to do this,” Sophie spat through teary eyes at Elijah and knelt down next to Agnes, a woman that had been around her entire life. She might have found her to bat crap crazy at times, but she had still been a large part of Sophie’s life.

Bonnie felt Lucy’s arm wrap around her shoulders and turn her away from the scene. “Let’s go get you cleaned up,” she said and lead her to the stairs, leaving the others to deal with Sophie the body.

“When did you get here?” Bonnie asked her cousin as they walked up the steps.

“Not long ago,” Lucy answered. “I rang Elijah because I thought you were still playing your little game and he told me what had happened. He came to meet me and together we tracked down Agnes.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“Police station,” she said. “Elijah compelled a cop to get us her address. She wasn’t there but I used something of hers for a locator spell and we found her hiding out by the docks with a couple other witches. Like that was gonna save her.”

When Lucy got Bonnie back to her room she sat her down on the edge of the bed and scrounged around the room to find where Bonnie has put her stuff.  “Once my friend got back to me with information on the Harvest, I realised the type of witches you were dealing with I knew I had to come here,” she said and eventually pulled out some pyjama bottoms and a tank top but put in one of the dresser drawers. “Kendra’s pissed by the way, that now both of us are here and she’s stuck there.”

Bonnie chuckled, she worried what that girl would do as soon as she turned eighteen and decided throw the adult card at her mother. “Do they know?” she asked quietly. “Did you tell them what happened?”

“I told my mother who as per usual, told the rest of them but they won’t let Kendra or Allison know. They’re too young to understand why witches can do this to each other,” she answered and placed the clothes in the bathroom. “My phone’s been blowing up since I told her, they all want to know that you’re okay,” there was a smile playing at her lips, “if I hadn’t assured them that the Mikaelson’s could handle it, they’d be on their way here no doubt.”

“I should have been more careful,” Bonnie said. “But I honestly wasn’t expecting that from them.”

“Of course you weren’t,” Lucy agreed and came back out of the bathroom. “What they did was dumb as hell.”

“I still didn’t want her to die.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that, she got what she deserved,” Lucy replied and took Bonnie’s good arm and pushed her towards the bathroom. “Now go clean yourself up and then we’ll get all that fixed up,” she said referring to her wrist and neck.

XXX

Elijah found his brother waiting around by the stairs. Klaus and Rebekah had offered to take care of the witch’s body by carrying it out to Sophie’s car (well, Rebekah offered and forced Klaus to help too).

“Why don’t you just go up there and see her?” he asked his brother.

“I’m giving her space,” he answered. “I also figured that maybe she wouldn’t want to see me at the moment after what’s happened to her today.”

“That Dark Object,” Elijah started, “has that anything to do with the real reason you were working with the witches back then?” Kol reluctantly nodded his head, remembering vividly the role Elijah himself played in receiving the dagger in his heart all those years ago. “Do you have intentions of finishing that little project of yours?”

Kol hadn’t much thought about it since he’d been woken up. He knew none of his family would side with him, they were all against him when he revealed it to Rebekah the first time and he didn’t imagine things would change now.

They at least had to decency not to reveal his true plans to their brother otherwise Kol feared he’d never had been let out of that coffin again.

“Already thinking of getting my coffin ready, brother?” he didn’t mean for his comment to come out so snidely but it did.

“Of course not,” he replied, not appreciating his brother’s tone but also not commenting on it. “I am hoping another war between this family is not about to start due to the reappearance of the Dark Objects.”

Kol clapped his brother on the shoulder and stood on the first step. “No need to worry, Elijah. The only war will be the one Nik starts himself.”

“My intention from the beginning was the kill Agnes,” Elijah said and Kol stopped on the stairs, turning back to his brother. “I was not going to let her get away with harming a member of this family.”

“I suppose I ought to thank you for stepping in,” Kol replied. “Bonnie tends to get upset when I kill people, even if they do deserve it.”

At least now Kol wouldn’t have to deal with Agnes’ death possibly coming between them since Elijah had been the one to kill the witch in the end.

“Don’t throw away what you have, Kol,” Elijah said, his tone soft and brotherly. “You two have something special but you both tend to let petty ideals get in the way. You need to let her do as she wishes, even if it means she may get hurt, and she needs to fully accept the vampire part of you.”

Kol knew his brother had a valid point. Had he have had his way, Bonnie probably wouldn’t have left the house because he was so concerned with her safety and he knows that Bonnie tends to ignore the darker side of him, feigning ignorance to what he’s been up to and the fact that he _loves_ to kill.

“We’ll work on that,” he said and turned back up the stairs and in the direction of Bonnie’s room.

Kol tentatively knocked on the open door and Lucy turned around.

“She’s in the shower,” she told him but he already gathered that from the sound of the running water.

“Do you mind if I wait?” he wasn’t usually one to ask but he had a tendency to tread carefully around Lucy Bennett when concerning Bonnie.

Her eyes narrowed on him slightly but she nodded her head anyway. “Tell her I’ll be downstairs if she needs me,” she said and walked passed him, touching his shoulder as she walked out and it was that small touch that let him know that she didn’t blame him for what happened to Bonnie today.

He took a seat on the edge of the bed and waited patiently for Bonnie to finish. Ten minutes had passed until the water shut off and another ten before the door opened and she exited the bathroom. She seemed startled to see him sitting there and looked around the room, probably for her cousin.

“She’s downstairs,” he told her and couldn’t stop his eyes from trailing over her form. Her smooth skin was slightly red from a too hot shower and her hair was still damp, with drop of water dripping from the strands on onto her shoulders and the floor.

She was beautiful.

His eyes caught the two puncture wounds on her neck and he resisted the urge to growl. He just thought back to what Nik told him and the knowledge that the vampire who did it was dead brought him some comfort and satisfaction.

He got to his feet. “Here,” he stood to her side and brought his wrist up to his mouth, slicing the skin with his fangs. He held it up to her mouth but she seemed hesitant to drink. “Bonnie,” he pleaded softly and let his forehead rest against her temple, his other hand sliding around her back to rest on her hip.

Her hand curled around his wrist and he felt her lips against his skin, her tongue slowly tracing the cut as she sucked gently. Kol found himself gripping her hip a little too tightly and biting down on his tongue. He nearly whined when she pulled back, the wounds on her wrist and neck now healed.

She wiped the sides of her mouth with the towel she had been using to dry her hair that she still held kin her hand.

“How are you feeling?’ he asked her, brushing some of her damp hair back behind her ear.

“Better,” she answered and gave him a small smile. “I’m just sick of always wanting to help and always having it blow back in my face.”

She was beyond tired of it. It seemed like every time she tried to help and make the right decision something happened, either to her or to someone else and she was sick of it.

Kol wanted to tell her to stop being so selfless, to stop helping people all the time but he knew that it was something that she’d never stop being or doing. It was who she was and as much as it annoyed the crap out him a lot of the time, it was one of the reasons he adored her so. She just had to learn how to read people and their intentions better.

“You asked me why I didn’t want you to know about my past,” he said, picking up their previous conversation from back down in the study. “It’s because I’m scared,” he confessed almost shamefully which caused Bonnie to frown. “I’m scared that if you finally see me for who I am, who I really am, you’ll be disgusted by it and you’ll leave me. For good.”

“You still want to know about my history with the witches?” he asked and she quickly nodded her head in a way that nearly made him smile. He motioned for her to sit down on the bed and she did, him following and taking a seat next to her.

“During that period, there was a lot of tension between me and Nik. I had a small handful of witches that were on my side and Klaus had a few that were on his,” he started to explain to her. “My siblings had no idea what I had been doing with the witches at the time, they had no idea that I taught them how to create the Dark Objects with the intention to use them on Klaus’ witches and together we were working on creating a weapon, a dagger that could neutralise even Klaus.”

Bonnie felt her mouth form an O but repressed the urge to say anything, wanting him to continue.

“I didn’t want Elijah or Rebekah to be harmed which is why I wanted to find Mikael. I told myself every day that I wanted to find Mikael to convince him to leave us be but I can no longer deny that my intentions were not so honourable. I wanted Mikael to find him, I wanted Mikael to make him suffer what he’d done to us. I knew Nik was the one he truly wanted and I wanted to be able to tell him of the weapon I had made and in exchange for Rebekah, Elijah’s and my own freedom from him, I would lead him to Nik.”

“Did you ever end up making the dagger?” she asked him, keeping her voice quiet know that Klaus was still here.

He shook his head. “What I needed, Nik and Marcel took from me. Thankfully, he didn’t know what I wanted it for. He just didn’t want me to have it.”

“What happened to the witches that were working with you?”

He paused, not wanting to tell Bonnie about the house that had become a prison for witches in New Orleans and how they had been trapped in there for the rest of their lives.

“Nik and Marcel killed them,” he lied and told her.

He didn’t want to risk her wanting to know more about what the house had become and the witches that are stuck there until their deaths and he certainly did not want her to go searching for it which he knew her curiosity would lead her to do.

Bonnie had been quiet for a while as she seemed to mull over what he had just told her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again, noticing that she had started to fidget, mostly with her fingers and hands.

“I’m kind of tired actually,” she answered and pushed some hair back.

He nodded. “I’ll let you get some rest then,” he said and was about to stand up but she grabbed his arm.

“Could you stay?” she asked him shyly, not quite meeting his eyes.

He smiled at her, finding her sudden shyness cute. “Of course I will,” he responded and traced the back of his fingers along her cheek.

Kol laid down and made himself comfortable on the bed and Bonnie curled into his side, her head on his shoulder and her arm slung over his torso. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, his fingertips tracing soothing patterns on her arm.

“It all worked out in the end, though, so I’m not complaining,” he continued, breaking the peaceful silence that surrounded them.

“About what?” she tilted her head to look up at him with a curious gaze.

He had a reserved smile playing on his lips. “Had Nik not daggered me that night then I wouldn’t have gotten out of the coffin when I did, and I might not have met you.” Bonnie away, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. “I know what it’s like to not have you in my life, Bonnie, and I never want to be without you again. Those three months without you were hell.”

“You wanted to be here without me,” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I would have come here with you in a heartbeat.”

“It’s not what I wanted,” he said. “What I wanted was to avoid things like today from happening and if my staying away from you was what kept you safe then I was willing to be miserable.”

Her eyes met his. “I’d rather face danger every day of the week and be happy here with you than be safe but miserable without you.”

He placed his fingers under her chin. “Don’t leave,” he whispered and she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his.

Their kiss was slow and sweet, neither of them making the move to deepen it and Bonnie gradually pulled away with a small smile on her face, biting down on her lip. She laid her head back down on his shoulder and closed her eyes, falling asleep in Kol’s arms almost instantly.

XXX

Later in the evening Kol walked outside of the mansion and breathed in the humid night air as he scrolled through the contacts in his phone, stopping at a name (well, a not so kind nickname) he never thought he’d have to call again. He swallowed his pride and pressed the name, holding the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” He cringed when the voice filled his ear.

“Caroline?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do believe it’s time that Bonnie showcases her powers, don’t you? We’re definitely going to see her using more of her magic, against pretty much everyone. Don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up so I’ll tell you now that at this point in time Caroline won’t be appearing in NOLA, none of the MFG will, aside from the odd phone call here and there. I just want Bonnie to flourish away from them :)   
> Not gonna like, I’m a bit disappointed in this chapter. It turned out quite different than intended. First of all, Marcel was going to be much meaner to Bonnie but then as I started writing he didn’t end up so bad but it’ll definitely be tense between them from now on (I love Marcel btw, so his part will get bigger). And second of all, it was even a quarter as violent as I thought it would be. (for instance Kol was going to do something very brutal to the vampire that bit Bonnie but then Rebekah saved her because Bek&BonBFFs4LYF). As I was writing things just turned out so different so I’m sorry if you feel let down by this chapter.  
> And just to clarify, I did come up with the idea for a cuff that bound a witch’s magic before season 2 even aired so I’m not copying that which is why I kept to my original design of it because it seemed crueller (and I’m horrible) and had a horrible name (it’s so bad! Lol the cursed cuff!) but Kol creating some of the objects was a lovely twist the show added and I loved the angst it would create so I kept that bit. I imagined the cuff looking like a chunky rusty gold bracelet and on the inside are 4 very thin spikes placed on the top, bottom and sides that essentially suck out a witch’s power.  
> This is where we’re going to deviate from season 1, it’s still going to have some things but some elements from season 2 may appear because well, Kol’s in NOLA in season 1 now ;)   
> So another long AN, sorry! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review!

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAND WE’RE BACK!  
> I hope you’re all as excited as I am for this sequel. So much potential with New Orleans and the witches and Bonnie! Can’t wait!  
> I also hope you didn’t find this chapter too boring but the family relationships are just as important as the romantic ones in this fic. The Bennett family will be explored so this will not be the last you see of them. I have big plans for them1  
> Now, I wrote pretty much all of it before Alive and Kicking aired but I added a few references from that episode in while editing. The directorial debut was Kol’s re-enactment of Hamlet with young Marcel.  
> The next chapter will be up soon and I do mean soon. I know I haven’t been the best when it comes to updating but I’m aiming for weekly updates if I can keep this rhythm up. I have chapter two already written and ready for editing and I’m about to start chapter three. I plan to have the next chapter written or almost done and waiting before I update with a new chapter.  
> Also, any mistakes you’ll find in this I apologise for and please review and let me know what you think! Again, I really hope you liked it!


End file.
